Dunkin’ Customer Gets $3 Million in Lawsuit Over Spilled Hot Coffee

Dunkin’ Donuts just settled a lawsuit with a woman from Atlanta, Georgia who claims she suffered third-degree burns from her take-out coffee order. According to a report by TMZ, the elderly woman chose to remain anonymous in when she sued the fast-food chain. She walked away with $3 million without having to go through a trial.

The woman said that she was in a Dunkin’ drive-thru in Sugar Hill, Georgia back in February of 2021 when she was burned by an over-heated cup of coffee. She said that the coffee spilled in her lap and burned her so badly that she racked up about $200,000 in medical bills to recover. That includes “extensive skin grafts” and physical therapy to “re-learn how to walk.” Her lawsuit fell on the Dunkin’ franchisee for that location, and they decided to settle for $3 million.

Reporters spoke to the woman’s lawyer, Benjamin Welch of Morgan & Morgan, who said that his client still suffers the effects of this injury to this day. He said that the woman has some ongoing struggles with mobility and every-day tasks, as well as a strict regimen of creams and ointments for recovery and pain management.

Of course, for many commenters this lawsuit called to mind the infamous 1994 lawsuit against McDonald’s when a woman named Stella Liebeck won over $2.8 million in damages. It was a very similar story – Liebeck was 79 years old and said that she spilled hot coffee in her lap and suffered third-degree burns. However, in that case, McDonald’s refused to settle, expecting to win the case in court.

Liebeck was only seeking $20,000 in damages at the time, but the case escalated quickly in court. In the end, the jury awarded Liebeck $160,000 in compensatory damages for her medical bills, as well as $2.7 million in punitive damages. Accounting for inflation that would be $5 million today, so the Sugar Hills Dunkin’ franchisee may have taken the cheaper route.

Liebeck’s case was a cultural touchstone at the time, causing a buzz on talk shows, news coverage and even in fictional media such as Seinfeld. It led to serious discussions about “frivolous litigation” and possible measure to change the legal system. If this Sugar Hills lawsuit is any indication, things haven’t changed all that much.