A jury in Broward County, Florida, has awarded an 8-year-old girl $800,000 in damages for second-degree burns caused by a McDonald’s chicken nugget several years ago. The family had sought $15 million for the incident, which happened when the girl was 4 years old and opened a Happy Meal box inside her family’s car, dropping a chicken nugget on her lap. One of the nuggets, which the girl’s family said was “dangerously hot” at 200 degrees, got stuck between her leg and her car seat for about two minutes and left her leg “disfigured and scarred,” the lawsuit against McDonald’s and franchisee Upchurch Foods, Inc. alleged. Lawyers for McDonald’s said the chicken nuggets could not have been more than 160 degrees and that they are not meant to be pressed against anyone’s skin for several minutes. But in May, jurors found both McDonald’s and the franchisee liable—Upchurch Foods Inc. for negligence and failure to warn customers of the risks associated with hot food, and McDonald’s only for failure to provide instructions on the safe handling of the food.
