Looking for $10 million?

[Tigermike 4,084]

Man says hold the cheese, claims McDonald's didn't, sues for $10 million

by Justin D. Anderson

Daily Mail Staff

A Morgantown man, his mother and his friend are suing McDonald's for $10 million.

The man says he bit into a hamburger and had a severe allergic reaction to the cheese melted on it.

Jeromy Jackson, who is in his early 20s, says he clearly ordered two Quarter Pounders without cheese at the McDonald's restaurant in Star City before heading to Clarksburg.

His mother Trela Jackson and friend Andrew Ellifritz are parties to the lawsuit because they say they risked their lives rushing Jeromy to United Hospital Center in Clarksburg.

The lawsuit alleges Jeromy "was only moments from death" or serious injury by the time he reached the hospital.

"We're interested in seeing McDonald's take responsibility and change a systemic quality control problem that endangers the lives of up to 12 million Americans with allergies," said Timothy Houston, the Morgantown lawyer representing the plaintiffs.

Houston said his clients were in Morgantown in October 2005 and stopped at the Star City McDonald's on the way home to Clarksburg. Jeromy Jackson was living with his mother at the time.

Jeromy did his part to make it known he didn't want cheese on the hamburgers because he is allergic, Houston said.

He told a worker through the ordering speaker and then two workers face-to-face at the pay and pick-up windows that he couldn't eat cheese, Houston said.

"By my count, he took at least five independent steps to make sure that thing had no cheese on it," Houston said. "And it did and almost cost him his life."

After getting the food, the three drove to Clarksburg and started to eat the food in a darkened room where they were going to watch a movie, Houston said. (How convenient!)

Jeromy took one bite and started having the reaction, Houston said. One of the three immediately called the McDonald's to let restaurant employees know they had messed up the order, but had to cut the call short when Jeromy started having a bad reaction, Houston said. (Why would the first call be to McDonalds rather than 911?)

At least two managers at the McDonald's called the Jacksons afterward to apologize for what happened, Houston said.

McDonald's representatives offered to pay half of Jeromy's medical bills -- which totaled about $700. When Houston became involved, he said the company offered to pay all the medical costs.

The plaintiffs weren't interested, and McDonald's wasn't offering anything more than medical costs.

The Jacksons and Ellifritz filed the lawsuit on July 18 in Monongalia Circuit Court.

Houston didn't know if McDonald's had yet been served with the complaint.

The lawsuit seeks damages on two counts of negligence, one count of intentional infliction of emotional distress and one count of punitive damages.

The fast-food giant has been sued before.

In one notorious instance in 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman from Albuquerque, N.M., sued McDonald's after she suffered third-degree burns from spilling a hot cup of coffee in her lap.

A jury later awarded Liebeck $2.9 million.

Contact writer Justin D. Anderson at justin@dailymail.com or 348-4843.

El Linko

[AUesquire 1]

This will be tossed out faster than you can puke up one of their Big Macs.

[keoson7 28]

If I have that allergy, I would personaly inspect my burger. with the lights ON

[quietfan 233]

This will be tossed out faster than you can puke up one of their Big Macs.

I wouldn't bet on it. If a woman can get $2.9 Mill for hot coffee, a case involving a life-threatening allergic reaction after specifically asking for no cheese could have legs.

Still, $10 milliion is ridiculous. Medical bills, perhaps a few thou for suffering and inconvenience, maybe. (Or maybe take the Seinfeld approach and offer fries for life, a la Kramer's capaccino ) As for the Mother and friend? Nothing!

But I agree with keoson--I'd inspect it myself if my life was at risk!

[AUesquire 1]

The McDonald's Coffee case. Quite possibly the biggest lie out there used by consumer groups. If anyone had a clue what that case was about and what really happened....

[DaddyBoyAU 138]

The McDonald's Coffee case. Quite possibly the biggest lie out there used by consumer groups. If anyone had a clue what that case was about and what really happened....

Do tell.

Or link to the real story... Seriously, I've heard that mentioned so much that if there is a backstory, I'd like to know.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Yeah what they didn't tell you was a McD's employee came out and poured the coffee in her lap. And it wasn't really coffee, it was sulfuric acid.

[TitanTiger 22,006]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's_coffee_case

I still think the lawsuit was ridiculous, but I will say, for McDonald's to refuse to pay all of her medical expenses from the get-go was a stupid thing to do.

[jared52 4,358]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald's_coffee_case

I still think the lawsuit was ridiculous, but I will say, for McDonald's to refuse to pay all of her medical expenses from the get-go was a stupid thing to do.

Why should McDonald's be responsible because she ripped the lid off and spilled the coffee in her lap? I get that the coffee was "too hot" and that the burns she receive were severe, but it was still her fault the coffee ever ended up in her lap. 100% her fault. If the drive-thru emplyee had spilled it on her handing her the cup, then I would thing she's have a case.

[TitanTiger 22,006]

It's sort of the thing where you get your order and start to head to your table and spill your drink all over the floor. Technically, yes, your fault. But out of goodwill, almost without fail, food establishments will not make you buy another drink. They'll give you a new one. As a gesture of goodwill (and smart business), it would have been prudent to pay for her medical bills. Small short term cost, big long term benefit to their reputation, plus it avoids a lawsuit like the one that ensued here.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Right. If they are asking that you pay their medical bills, even if you are in the right, it is quite wise to pay for them.

[AUesquire 1]

Thanks for posting that, TT. If you read this thing in it's entirity, you begin to understand what this case was really about. 99% of the general public just jokes "Oh, I spilled coffee on myself, that should be worth a few million." All they heard was that some lady sued Micky D's and got 2.9 million for spilling coffee on herself...ridiculous.

Did ABC or anyone else follow up and tell the public that this was a 79 year old woman who endured skin grafts to her thighs and spent 8 days in the hospital and 2 years of follow up treatment? Did they bother to tell anyone that the case was as much about 700 prior burn injuries from this same coffee? Did you know that the award was later reduced to $640K and that they settled for much less than that? Did ABC or anyone else tell us how the she tried to settle the case prior to getting an attorney? Let's see, $11K in bills and the demand was for $20K and would have been negotiated. Gee, all minor details that folks seem to leave out when speaking of the "Poster child for excessive lawsuits."

Coffee is hot. I know that. You know that and we don't need any warning labels to tell us that. I don't imagine this was the first cup this lady ever had. She probably knew that coffee is hot too. Ya' think? But, should it be hot enough to cause burns so severe you have to endure skin grafts? Hell no. This case was as much about McDonald's ignoring over 700 previous reports of people being burned by their coffee as it was one 79 year old lady who spent 8 days in the hospital. But, no one ever thought little tidbits of information like that were important enough to research or convey to the public.

Yes, there are frivilous lawsuits filed, but this one isn't even close to being the "Poster child..." A jury awarded it, a Judge thought better of the amount and cut it way down and they settled for less than that. All after trying to get McDonald's to basically pay her bills.

I'm going for a cup of coffee.

[BamaGrad03 0]

I think the problem people have with this lawsuit...is that there are MANY MANY MANY of them prior and post that were incredibly frivilous. Yet some big company had to pay out this ridiculous sum because some person found a loophole.

I'm not super frustrated with this particular situation, as I am others. This one just reminds me of the others.

[AUesquire 1]

I agree BG and one problem is that too many of those get way too much publicity and not enough follow up reporting. It's like the topic of this thread. This suit may stick in people's minds but the reality is that if this oocurred the way they are reporting, it will most likely get tossed on Summary Judgment. We won't ever hear about it, though. I actually think it would serve as a bit of a deterrent to follow up and report that suits that appeared frivilous on their face, turned out to be just that and a court kicked it to the curb.

[AU_tiger_2000 0]

My best friend in high school was severely diabetic. He was always having to send back his drink orders after asking for diet and getting regular, if it was something that would have caused immediate problems like an allergy I can see this becoming a problem. You would think that somebody could look and tell if cheese was on a hamburger though.

My daughter is allergic to the big three (dairy, eggs, and nuts) according to our doctor. It's amazing how few people working in restaurants don't know what is in their food because it comes frozen in a big bag and they just dump it in a fryer. Several times we have asked and been told the food was safe and then have to give our daughter zyrtec when we get home because she is breaking out. Who would have thought that french fries from McDonald's has milk in it?

[TitanTiger 22,006]

My best friend in high school was severely diabetic. He was always having to send back his drink orders after asking for diet and getting regular, if it was something that would have caused immediate problems like an allergy I can see this becoming a problem. You would think that somebody could look and tell if cheese was on a hamburger though.

My daughter is allergic to the big three (dairy, eggs, and nuts) according to our doctor. It's amazing how few people working in restaurants don't know what is in their food because it comes frozen in a big bag and they just dump it in a fryer. Several times we have asked and been told the food was safe and then have to give our daughter zyrtec when we get home because she is breaking out. Who would have thought that french fries from McDonald's has milk in it?

Well, the other thing I can't believe is that they didn't check the burgers before pulling away. We always check our order before leaving the parking lot just to make sure we got everything we ordered and that everything is how we ordered it. Too many experiences of getting home to find out we got a chicken sandwich instead of a burger or onion rings instead of fries or some such.

So if not having cheese is important enough to you that you would ask 3 times and eating one or two bites will send you to the hospital, isn't incumbent upon you to check for yourself before going to a darkened room to open it and take your first bite?

[TitanTiger 22,006]

Here's the other kicker to me:

McDonald's representatives offered to pay half of Jeromy's medical bills -- which totaled about $700. When Houston (the attorney) became involved, he said the company offered to pay all the medical costs.

The plaintiffs weren't interested, and McDonald's wasn't offering anything more than medical costs.

Now, McD's probably should have just paid the $1400 for all the medical costs. For a company that size, what's another $700 when you're already willing to pay $700? And no more liability.

But the attorney gets in touch with them and they offer to pony up the full amount, but now the plaintiff isn't interested...and they think $10 million is reasonable now?!?!?

[CCTAU 3,831]

My best friend in high school was severely diabetic. He was always having to send back his drink orders after asking for diet and getting regular, if it was something that would have caused immediate problems like an allergy I can see this becoming a problem. You would think that somebody could look and tell if cheese was on a hamburger though.

My daughter is allergic to the big three (dairy, eggs, and nuts) according to our doctor. It's amazing how few people working in restaurants don't know what is in their food because it comes frozen in a big bag and they just dump it in a fryer. Several times we have asked and been told the food was safe and then have to give our daughter zyrtec when we get home because she is breaking out. Who would have thought that french fries from McDonald's has milk in it?

Well, the other thing I can't believe is that they didn't check the burgers before pulling away. We always check our order before leaving the parking lot just to make sure we got everything we ordered and that everything is how we ordered it. Too many experiences of getting home to find out we got a chicken sandwich instead of a burger or onion rings instead of fries or some such.

So if not having cheese is important enough to you that you would ask 3 times and eating one or two bites will send you to the hospital, isn't incumbent upon you to check for yourself before going to a darkened room to open it and take your first bite?

Nah. We are taught by the librul establishment that we will be taken care of by someone else. There is NO personal responsibility taught anymore. I all cases mentioned in this thread, it was the individual's responsibility to protect themselves. Other than that, we are all just looking for that golden ticket. I mean why shoudl I look out for myself. If I don't die, I can sue.

[AUesquire 1]

My best friend in high school was severely diabetic. He was always having to send back his drink orders after asking for diet and getting regular, if it was something that would have caused immediate problems like an allergy I can see this becoming a problem. You would think that somebody could look and tell if cheese was on a hamburger though.

My daughter is allergic to the big three (dairy, eggs, and nuts) according to our doctor. It's amazing how few people working in restaurants don't know what is in their food because it comes frozen in a big bag and they just dump it in a fryer. Several times we have asked and been told the food was safe and then have to give our daughter zyrtec when we get home because she is breaking out. Who would have thought that french fries from McDonald's has milk in it?

Well, the other thing I can't believe is that they didn't check the burgers before pulling away. We always check our order before leaving the parking lot just to make sure we got everything we ordered and that everything is how we ordered it. Too many experiences of getting home to find out we got a chicken sandwich instead of a burger or onion rings instead of fries or some such.

So if not having cheese is important enough to you that you would ask 3 times and eating one or two bites will send you to the hospital, isn't incumbent upon you to check for yourself before going to a darkened room to open it and take your first bite?

Nah. We are taught by the librul establishment that we will be taken care of by someone else. There is NO personal responsibility taught anymore. I all cases mentioned in this thread, it was the individual's responsibility to protect themselves. Other than that, we are all just looking for that golden ticket. I mean why shoudl I look out for myself. If I don't die, I can sue.

So, the 79 year old lady who asked for $20K after 8 days in the hospital, $11K in bills incurred and 2 more years of treatment ahead...was looking for the "golden ticket." Okay