US girl burned by hot McDonald’s chicken nugget awarded US$800,000 in damages
- Olivia Caraballo was four when she got second-degree burns from a piece of food that landed on her leg as her mother pulled out of a fast-food drive-through
- Her mother says the incident left a scar on the girl’s inner thigh, which she calls her ‘nugget’ and is fixated on having removed
A South Florida jury awarded US$800,000 in damages to a little girl who received second-degree burns when a hot Chicken McNugget fell on her leg as her mother pulled away from the drive-through of a McDonald’s restaurant.
Lawyers for the family of Olivia Caraballo, who was four when she was burned in 2019, were seeking US$15 million in damages. Jurors reached their verdict after deliberating for less than two hours on Wednesday, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
The jury’s verdict form allotted US$400,000 in damages for the past four years, and another US$400,000 for the future from the McDonald’s USA and its franchise operator, Upchurch Foods. A separate jury decided in May that the company and franchise owner were liable for the injury, which occurred outside a McDonald’s in Tamarac, near Fort Lauderdale.
“I’m actually just happy that they listened to Olivia’s voice and the jury was able to decide a fair judgment,” Olivia’s mother, Philana Holmes, told reporters outside the courtroom. “I’m happy with that. I honestly had no expectations, so this is more than fair for me.”
She testified on Tuesday that Olivia, now eight, calls the scar on her inner thigh her “nugget” and is fixated on having it removed, the newspaper reported.
Lawyers for McDonald’s argued that the child’s discomfort ended when the wound healed, which they said took about three weeks. They contended that the girl’s mother is the one who has the problem with the scar, and told jurors that US$156,000 should cover damages, both past and future.
