Most people know of the hot coffee lawsuit filed against McDonald’s, where a woman sued the fast-food icon in 1992 over burns she sustained when she spilled coffee on herself.
In that case, Stella Liebeck was awarded almost $3 million in punitive damages, according to the website Consumer Attorneys of California.
Samantha Picklo is now suing Dunkin’ after she was also burned by hot coffee she had spilled on her lap, CBS News reported.
The incident happened last year in a drive-through of a Dunkin’ location in Delran, New Jersey.
She said that a worker handed her a tray with three cups of coffee, which fell, scalding her.
“As he tried to pass it to me — before I could even take it from him — I watched as the extra-large cup of coffee just fell forward ... and then the other two had fallen right on me,” Picklo said, according to CBS News.
Her pants absorbed the hot coffee so she ripped them off and then called 911, Picklo told Inside Edition.
Picklo was admitted into a burn center for three days of treatment for second- and third-degree burns to her legs, KYW reported.
A discussion over her injuries was recorded on police body cameras shortly after the coffee was spilled.
“Her legs are all burned up — like there’s skin coming completely off her legs from the degree of the burns,” someone said on the video, according to KYW.
Dunkin’ workers said that Picklo was eating something when they handed the coffee tray and grabbed it with one hand, Inside Edition reported.
An unidentified employee told Inside Edition, “She moved her coffee to the other seat, and suddenly the coffee fell down on her legs.”
She said if Dunkin’ had better cup carriers the spill would never have happened.
“All the industry has to do is to have a holder that has higher sides and is more secure,” her attorney Paul D’Amato argues, according to CBS News.
Picklo and her husband are suing for an unspecified amount of money.
Dunkin’s corporate offices did not comment when asked by KYW, but in a court filing in April said that the store was not negligent and that Picklo’s injuries were due to her own negligence, the news station reported.
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