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Breaking News: Hot Chocolate is ‘Hot’!
I probably don’t even need to bother offering the rundown of successful and unsuccessful suits filed against Starbucks and McDonald’s after customers were injured by scalding hot liquid. They’re absolutely absurd, but at least the one common thread to most of the successful cases is that someone besides the customer was at fault (for instance, the case of the ballerina who successfully swindled Starbucks out of $301,000 when of its baristas spilled hot coffee on her toesies.)
The latest suit against Starbucks, however, ups the level of absurd, as the Brennans brought suit against the company after their daughter was scalded by hot chocolate.
Brennan ordered a child’s hot chocolate with whipped cream and an adult hot chocolate without whipped cream at the drive-through. According to the lawsuit, Starbucks’ policy is to serve child drinks at lower temperature than adult drinks to avoid kids getting burned.Brennan handed her daughter the child drink, and as she pulled away from the window, it spilled into Rachel’s lap.
The child was “screaming in pain,” and her mother pulled over, got Rachel out and removed her clothes to find the “skin on Rachel’s leg was falling off of her.” She suffered serious burns that required repeated medical attention and could require more medical attention, the lawsuit said. The parents are seeking unspecified damages.
In other news, a New Mexico woman is suing the makers of ice, claiming that their product was “too cold” and caused severe discomfort when she spilled an iced beverage down her blouse.
Elsewhere, thousands of players of ESPN’s fantasy football are bringing a class action lawsuit against the Tennessee Titans, after Eagles QB Donovan McNabb suffered a season-ending injury while running away from a Tennessee defenseman. [Dude, seriously - us Philly fans just lost McNabb yesterday! It’s too damn early for this joke. Salt on the wound, man, salt on the wound. — Seth]
An Arkansas man is also suing Home Depot, alleging that the store negligently sold him a high-powered staple gun, which he used to staple his hand to a table, just “to see if I could.”
Finally, a New Jersey man is suing Anheuser Busch because, after consuming 23 Bud Lights, he spilled his 24th on his date. He filed suit against the beer maker, claiming he was entitled to $456,000 for pain, emotional suffering, and loss of consortium, after his girlfriend decked him and slept over at her aunt’s house.
Comments
Admitted that we are an overly litigious society, and that people should not be compensated for their own stupidity.
However something about the phrase the “skin on Rachel’s leg was falling off of her.” tells me that maybe the hot cocoa wasn’t just a little too hot to drink right away. There is a difference between “hot” as in “hot cocoa” and “hot” as in “burns the skin off your body.” I’m thinking Starbucks customers are reasonable in expecting the former and not the latter.
Posted by legallyblondeez | November 20, 2006 7:00 PM
Man, some days it's tough being from New Mexico, we only get on the news for stupid shit. Like the coffee lady, or the runaway bride ending up in Albuquerque. Or aliens and cops using a helicopter for a krispy kreme run. As long as you all recognize us as a state, I'll have to survive.
Posted by Eric | November 21, 2006 2:14 PM