FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – A Broward jury has awarded $800,000 in damages in a lawsuit that alleged hot chicken McNuggets from a local McDonald’s franchise left a young girl severely burned, according to News 6 partner WPLG-TV.
Closing statements concluded Wednesday in the second trial to determine the damages that will be awarded to a family who filed a lawsuit against McDonald’s and its franchisee, Upchurch Foods Inc., after their 4-year-old daughter was severely burned by a chicken nugget.
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Earlier this year, a separate jury found some fault with both McDonald’s and the franchisee after the family claimed a Chicken McNugget burn left their daughter “disfigured and scarred.”
The jury found that both were liable for failure to warn about the “foreseeable risks of harm.”
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The jury also found Upchurch Foods, but not McDonald’s, was negligent and decided that both companies were not liable for additional allegations.
The victim’s parents were seeking $15 million for the burn they say left their 4-year-old daughter “disfigured and scarred.”
The lawsuit stems from a trip to the drive-thru on Aug. 21, 2019. Philana Holmes said she went to the McDonald’s at 7600 NW 57 St. in Tamarac and ordered a six-piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal for her daughter, Olivia. She said the girl was in the car when she dropped a nugget on her lap, which got lodged between her thigh and her vehicle’s seat belt.
“The Chicken McNuggets inside of that Happy Meal were unreasonably and dangerously hot ... and caused (the victim)’s skin and flesh around her thighs to burn,” the lawsuit stated.
The suit claimed the companies served food that was “unfit for human handling — let alone consumption” due to the temperature.
McDonald’s and their franchisee argued food safety rules require McNuggets to be hot enough, otherwise, they’re unsafe to eat. The defense also argued that what happens to a McNugget once it leaves the drive-thru window is beyond their control.
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