Printed from BusinessInsurance.com

OFF BEAT: McDonald's hit with yet another hot coffee lawsuit

Posted On: Apr. 23, 2013 12:00 AM CST

A McDonald’s Corp. franchise is in the hot seat after an Australian woman alleges she was scalded by the restaurant chain’s coffee.

Jessica Sussan Wishart of Adelaide, Australia, has sued a McDonald's operator in Adelaide District Court, alleging that she received second-degree burns after spilling McDonald's coffee in April 2009, according to The Daily Telegraph.

She alleges that she dropped the cup of coffee because it was too hot, and that the drink burned her thigh, groin and buttocks.

Ms. Wishart “has permanent scarring and had difficulty walking ... she no longer drinks coffee or goes into McDonald's stores,” the newspaper reported in citing the complaint.

The lawsuit is the latest of several claims that have been made against McDonald's entities over the years after customers accused the restaurant of serving too-hot java.

Perhaps the most famous case was that of Stella Liebeck, who was awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages by a New Mexico jury after she said McDonald's coffee caused third-degree burns to her lap. According to reports at the time, the company did lower the temperature of coffee that it served.