Why was an 8 year old awarded $800K from McDonald’s? Chicken nugget lawsuit explained

McDonald’s Corporation, the American fast food chain popular for selling burgers and chicken nuggets, was established in 1940. Recently, the company landed itself in hot waters after the authorities were forced to pay a huge amount to a little girl for their negligence.

McDonald’s recently awarded an 8-year-old girl, Olivia Caraballo, $800K in damages. The girl suffered a second-degree burn from a McDonald’s chicken nugget four years ago. As her mother was driving out of the restaurant's drive-thru, a nugget fell into the girl’s leg and burned it severely.

In May 2019, the girl’s lawyer decided that the fast food chain was to be blamed for the boiling hot nugget that burnt Olivia Caraballo's calf when she opened a Happy Meal in the car. Due to "negligence and failure" to notify the customers about the risk of the extremely hot food, the jury held the franchise accountable.

Olivia's parents received $800,000 in damages for their daughter's burn injuries, pain, and suffering.

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Olivia Caraballo received a second-degree burn from a hot McDonald’s nugget

Olivia Caraballo finally won the case and received $800,000 (Image via Associated Press)

Olivia, the daughter of Philana Holmes and Humberto Caraballo Estevez, was reportedly burned by a McNugget that was "unreasonably and dangerously" hot when she was four years old. According to her lawyers and her parents, the chicken piece fell onto the young girl's lap and caused a second-degree burn.

The South Florida SunSentinel reported that attorneys for the family of Olivia Caraballo requested $15 million in damages. The jury finally declared their verdict on Wednesday, July 19.

Holmes claimed that when they were driving away after buying Happy Meals for her daughter, who was riding in the backseat, the nugget dropped on the child's leg. She also claimed that the girl yelled in agony, and after she pulled over in a parking lot, she found the piece of the nuggets lodged between Oliva's leg and the seat belt. She further stated that she was not informed by McDonald’s that the food might be dangerously hot.

The jury decided that the company needed to pay $800K to the customer for the damages caused by its carelessness.

Philana Holmes, Olivia's mother, stated to the reporters on July 19, outside the courtroom that:

“I’m actually just happy that they listened to Olivia’s voice and the jury was able to decide a fair judgment. I’m happy with that. I honestly had no expectations, so this is more than fair for me”.

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This is not the first time a customer has sued McDonald’s for negligence

McDonald's has been sued by customers many times before (Image via Getty Images)

McDonald’s had landed itself in trouble before as well. Back in 1992, a customer sued the brand for serving dangerously hot coffee. Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, New Mexico, spilled hot McDonald's coffee on her lap at one of the company's drive-thrus. She then ended up with severe burns.

This is because the coffee was extremely hot and caused a third-degree burn that required skin grafts. As a result, she sued the company and ended up obtaining around $3M for the damages caused by the coffee.

Liebeck originally requested $20,000 to pay for her medical expenses, but that was rejected by the company. They instead offered to pay a mere $800. She then made settlement offers of $90,000 and later $300,000 after hiring a lawyer. Both of these amounts were once more rejected. Finally, when the case went to trial, she ended up winning $2.9M.