Hot Cup of Coffee Burns Bosom Buddies
By Robert Warne - October 22, 2002A claim dating back to 1997 that involved a woman whose breast was burned by a cup of coffee from a Hardee’s restaurant in Virginia, came to an abrupt end when the plaintiff admitted her defense was decaffeinated.
Defendant, Boddie-Noell Enterprises, Hardee’s was in shock after one day into the trial, on Oct. 18, plaintiff Lorena Myers conceded she had no case and asked the judge to dismiss the suit.
Myers wanted to be compensated $750,000 for physical and emotional pain suffered after a Hardee’s drive-through attendant spilled coffee on her.
According to The Roanoke Times, Myers testified that since the burn, her clothes have irritated the skin on her right breast, and she could no longer wear bathing suits to go swimming. It had affected her relationship with her boyfriend and caused her a lot of physical and emotional pain, she testified.
Before admitting that she had no case, Boddie-Noell’s attorney, Melissa Robinson, perforated Myers’ credibility with a series of tough questions and a solid line-up of witnesses.
One doctor was questioned about his interaction with Myers. He told the jury that Myers and her boyfriend propositioned him with a cut of the claim if he cooperated with them.
Another doctor who Myers had seen for a workers’ compensation claim also testified against her. He had eventually dropped Myers as a patient and notified the compensation board because he couldn’t find anything to support her continuing symptoms in the case.
A letter from Myers to the doctor was read in court, which urged him to retract his notice to the board so her case wouldn’t go down the drain.
Even after the judge dismissed the case the jury still wanted to issue a verdict. The judge allowed them to do so on their own time, and after 20 minutes they returned with a unanimous verdict in favor of Boddie-Noell.
Those present told reporters that they’d never seen such a case, according to The Roanoke Times.
This case was completely different from the McDonald’s incident in the 1990s in when a 72-year-old lady in New Mexico received third degree burns when a cup of coffee heated to about 180 degrees spilled into her lap. The main difference was Stella Liebeck actually was severely burned and was required to stay in the hospital for 8 days following the incident. And Liebeck’s original claim against McDonald’s was just $20,000 to cover medical costs. | 
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