714,080 euros (800 thousand dollars) is the amount of the fine that McDonald’s must pay to Philana Holmes and Humberto Caraballo Estevez, parents of Olivia Caraballo, the minor who suffered second-degree burns after a McNugget fell on her leg. Her parents say that he was “unreasonably hot” and that the events have left her “disfigured” and traumatized.
A Florida state jury sided with the family, after a legal battle that began in 2019. The lawsuit filed asked the franchise for compensation of $15 million for damages caused to the minor. The judge ruled in favor of the family, finding that the franchise company Upchurch Foods “did not put warnings on the food and that caused the injury,” according to local channel NBC 6.
The events occurred in August of that year, when Olivia was 4 years old. Upon receiving the Happy Meal that her parents bought through the drive-thru service, a piece of fried chicken fell and got caught between her leg and the child seat, causing a burn on her skin.
Lawyers for the family claimed in the lawsuit that the temperature at which the food was served “was not suitable for human manipulation.” Before the last trial, McDonald’s ruled that the McNuggets were at a safe temperature. With the resolution of the case, the mother of the minor assured that “the jury was able to decide a fair trial, I am happy with that.”
This is not the first fine the fast food giant has had to pay this year. At the beginning of May, the United States Department of Labor sanctioned the company with 191,289 euros (212,544 dollars) for finding nearly 300 minors working in the states of Kentucky, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio.
