Hot coffee

The controversy over scalding hot coffee temperatures at McDonald’s continues. The fast food chain was recently hit with another lawsuit by a customer who was severely burned by their coffee. Joan Fino, a 74-year old California resident, is the latest to sue McDonalds for burns she sustained from hot coffee spilling in her lap. Nicholas Wagner, Fino’s attorney states, “Despite over 1,000 complaints from customers about being burned by the coffee, McDonald’s still continues to brew the coffee at such an exceptionally high temperature”. Fino claims she receive her coffee and the lid was not secure, causing her to spill the coffee, and she continues to suffer from the aftermath of her injuries.

This is not the first time McDonalds has been in legal trouble over their extremely high coffee temperatures. Twenty-one years ago, McDonalds was ordered to pay Stella Liebeck 2.9 million dollars over serious injuries from a spilled coffee into her lap. McDonalds brews its coffee at higher temperatures than the norm, so that it tastes fresher longer and less is wasted. After the Liebeck suit, McDonalds ordered it’s franchises to brew coffee 10 degrees cooler. However, that brewing temperature is still tens of degrees higher than what consumers brew their coffee at in their own homes.

There have been several complaints over the years about McDonald’s hot coffee. It seems like an easy fix could be made to avoid these lawsuits. By just lowering their coffee brewing temperature, a world of trouble could be avoided. Fino’s attorney also seems to think that McDonald’s is saving more in production costs by brewing their coffee at these high temperatures, than it costs them to pay out for these lawsuits. Numerous McDonald’s customers continue to be injured by hot spilled coffee, hopefully McDonalds will eventually do something to prevent this from happening.