McDonald's Sued For Spilling Coffee On Customer

ROMEOVILLE, IL — Harold Smith visited the McDonald's restaurant on North Weber Road exactly two years ago this week, on July 15, 2016. He placed his order at the drive-thru and pulled up to the window to receive his fresh cup of coffee. That steaming cup of hot coffee ended up being spilled on his body, according to a new civil lawsuit filed this week at the Will County Courthouse in downtown Joliet.

Now Smith is suing McDonald's Restaurants of Illinois, Inc. He retained the Law Offices of Howard S. Abrams to go after McDonald's business at 675 N. Weber Road for his alleged misery.

"Defendant, McDonald's Restaurants of Illinois Inc., owed the plaintiff to safely deliver food and beverage through said drive through windows so as not to injure the plaintiff," their Will County lawsuit states.

Back in the early 1990s, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck successfully sued the McDonald's in Albuquerque after a hot coffee was spilled onto her lap at a drive-thru. She was a passenger in the car and a jury awarded her nearly $3 million for her pain and suffering.

Will Smith get similar results at the Will County Courthouse? That remains to be seen.

His lawsuit alleges that the Weber Road McDonald's employees "handed a hot cup of coffee to the plaintiff that was not properly secured and it spilled on the plaintiff."

The new lawsuit accuses the Romeoville McDonald's of negligence, informing the court that "Harold Smith sustained severe and permanent disabling injuries and suffered acute and prolonged physical and mental pain and anguish by reason of which Plaintiff has expended large sums of money for medical care and attention to his injuries."

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Image of Weber Road McDonald's via Google Maps