You may have heard of the McDonald’s coffee lawsuit (Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants) where the victim successfully sued because of the high temperature of the drink. Whilst those kinds of cases are now few and far between (although we have dealt with some) the more common coffee burn claims involve the lids and containers being defective or unsecured.
In this case our client was badly scolded because she placed the cup of coffee to her lips to drink it and the lid had not been put on properly. This resulted in significant scolding to the chest and stomach area.
Unfortunately the lid hadn’t been put on properly and our client was of course entirely unaware of this. The contents spilled when she tried to drink it resulting in the boiling coffee being spilled down her chest and stomach. The burns were obviously very painful for a few months but the primary concern, as is usually the case with these types of claims, was the scarring.
For scarring injuries we normally instruct a Plastic Surgeon to provide us with a private medico-legal report that we can then use as evidence for the claim. A Plastic Surgeon is normally qualified to provide their opinion for scars, burns, other skin damage, and damage to the nervous system.
These kinds of reports are very typical in personal injury claims but we always aim to instruct the best experts we can so we can have a thorough and quality medical report that can be used for evidence. This evidence is then used by us to value the claim and to justify the eventual payout.
Given that the scarring was going to last quite some time, the claim attracted a higher award to reflect this. Whilst in most claims the value of the claim is about the length and severity of suffering which is normally about the pain and inconvenience, in scarring cases, it is about the length and severity of the scarring. Scarring in itself is suffering even where it is not painful anymore.
Initially the insurers only wanted to pay just over £3,000 but we fought for the highest settlement we could for our client. A further offer came in of £5,000 which was also rejected, and we eventually settled for what we consider to be a good sum of £9,000. Our client was happy to accept this.
If you have been injured then call our helpline today. We are The Injury Lawyers and we’re here to help you!
