FORT LAUDERDALE, FL– The family of a 4-year-old girl has been awarded $800,000 in damages in a lawsuit that alleged that the child was left “disfigured and scarred,” after she was burned by a hot chicken nugget from McDonalds.
The decision was handed down on Wednesday after a Broward jury deliberated for two hours over how much money the family should receive.
The victim’s parents sought $15 million from McDonald’s and its franchisee, Upchurch Foods Inc., while McDonald’s believed $156,000 would be able to cover the victim’s past and future since the wound healed three weeks later.
On Aug. 21, 2019, Philana Holmes went to the McDonald’s drive-thru at 7600 NW 57 St. in Tamarac and ordered a six-piece Chicken McNuggets Happy Meal for her daughter, Olivia.
Holmes said she handed her daughter her meal and during the drive, the child dropped a nugget on her lap. The nugget became lodged between her thigh and her vehicle’s seat belt and remained there burning the child until Holmes was able to pull over and get the child out of her car seat.
Olivia was said to have suffered second-degree burns to her thigh.
Holmes and Olivia’s father went on to file a lawsuit against McDonald’s and Upchurch Foods Inc., for the “unreasonably and dangerously” hot chicken nuggets that were served in the Happy Meal.
McDonald’s testified that the temperature of the nuggets is based upon food safety rules, which require nuggets to be hot enough to avoid salmonella poisoning.
McDonald’s also testified that what happens with the food once it leaves the drive-thru is beyond the company’s control.
The initial jury, however, found McDonald’s and its franchisee liable for failure to warn about the “foreseeable risks of harm.”
The jury also found Upchurch Foods, but not McDonald’s, was negligent and decided that both companies were not liable for additional allegations.