Canadian Tim Hortons franchiser TDL Group Corp. and franchisee Greenwood Enterprises Inc. both say they are not to blame
WARNING: This story shows burnt skin in a very graphic way.
The family of an Ontario woman who says she was burned by a cup of hot Tim Hortons tea is suing the coffee and doughnut shop’s Canadian franchisor and the owner of one of its locations for $500,000.
But the defendants, TDL Group Corp. and Greenwood Enterprises Inc., say that there was no negligence on their part.
Jackie Lansing, who is 73 years old, told CBC Toronto that she was driving her sister to a doctor’s appointment in May 2022 when they stopped at a Tim Hortons on Highway 60 in Huntsville, Ont. for a drive-thru.
Lansing asked for a medium black tea with two milks, which a worker brought to her through the window, she said.
Lansing said in an interview, “I took it, put it in the cup holder, and said, “I don’t know, it seems really hot.”
“So I picked it up to see if it had milk in it, but the cup fell and the tea went all over my stomach and legs.”
Lansing, who lives just south of Rousseau, Ontario, got “severe, painful, and permanent injuries” from the spill, including second-degree burns on about 6% of her body, according to a statement of claim filed on her behalf in December in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.
Lansing said, “I was really shocked because it hurt so much.”
The lawsuit says the restaurant was careless when they gave Lansing tea that was “scalding hot” and in a cup that “collapsed in on itself.”
“The restaurant’s cup was broken and not good enough for what it was meant for,” the statement of claim says. “The black tea that was given was more of a danger than a drink.”
Lansing said that ten months after the accident, she still has scars on the backs of her legs and sores on her stomach.
She said, “I just wish they would take responsibility.”
In the lawsuit, TDL Group is named as the company that is in charge of keeping the Huntsville Tim Hortons stocked with materials and up to code, as well as the leaseholder of the property where the restaurant is located. According to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, TDL Group is a wholly owned subsidiary of Restaurant Brands International, which is Tim Horton’s parent company in the United States.
The lawsuit says that Greenwood Enterprises runs the restaurant.
Lansing is asking for $450,000 in compensation for her pain and suffering, medical bills, and other costs she has had to pay because of her injuries. Her husband and sister, who are also named as plaintiffs, are asking for $50,000 for the loss of guidance, care, and companionship, as well as for the costs they had to pay and the money they lost while taking care of Lansing.
Gavin Tighe, a partner at the Toronto law firm Gardiner Roberts LLP who is representing the family, said that restaurants have a “duty of care” to make sure drinks are served at a safe temperature.
“If it can burn your body, it can burn your mouth,” Tighe said in an interview.
“So why do restaurants serve it at that temperature?”
Tighe said that Tim Hortons hasn’t done enough to prevent similar scalding incidents, like the one that happened to a Winnipeg woman in 2013.
Defendants deny all allegation
In a statement of defense filed at the end of February, a lawyer for TDL and Greenwood denied that serving the hot tea was dangerous or that the condition of the cup made it more likely that the tea would spill. Instead, they thought Lansing was to blame for her injuries.
Andrea LeDrew of the Toronto law firm Stieber & Berlach LLP wrote, “If the plaintiffs suffered the injuries and damages alleged, then those injuries and damages were caused and/or contributed to by [Lansing] herself and/or her actions and/or omissions.”
“She brought her bad luck on herself.”
The defense statement says that the defendants, their agents, and their staff “fulfilled all duties of care in regards to the sale and delivery of hot beverages” and that even if the spill was caused by the condition of the cup, it was not “in any way caused or contributed to by any breach of care or duty on the part of the defendants.”
LeDrew asked the judge to throw out the claim.
Tim Hortons didn’t want to say anything while the case was in court.
On the website of the Tea Association of Canada, it says that white and green tea should be made at 85 C, while black and herbal teas should be made at 100 C. The association also says that each type of tea should steep for between one and six minutes.
But the Burn Foundation in the United States says that water at 68 degrees Celsius is already hot enough to cause a third-degree burn in just one second.
Dr. Alan Rogers, a burn surgeon at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto who is not involved in the case, said that the severity of a burn from a hot liquid depends on the age of the patient as well as the temperature of the liquid, its viscosity, and how long it is in contact with the skin.
He said, “If it’s on their clothes for a longer time, even if it’s washed right away with… cool running water, it’s less likely to cause a burn injury.”
Several lawsuits are about hot drinks
Rajiv Haté, a personal injury lawyer with Kotak Lawyers in Toronto who is not involved in the case, said that it is common for people to sue restaurants for damages after getting burned by hot drinks.
Haté said that Lansing’s chances of winning depend on whether she can prove that the restaurant or its employees were negligent or whether the defense can prove that she was also negligent.
“It really comes down to what caused it to happen and how it affected the plaintiff. Also, did the plaintiff do anything to make it happen?” he said.
Haté said that if the case goes to court, experts will probably be brought in to talk about things like the right way to serve hot drinks and when a cup like the one used could be wrong.
Lansing’s case reminds me of a high-profile U.S. case from the early 1990s that got a lot of attention around the world.
Stella Liebeck, who was 79 years old at the time, got third-degree burns when she spilled a cup of hot McDonald’s coffee on her lap and in her pelvic area. She sued the chain, and a jury decided that McDonald’s was mostly to blame for serving coffee that was too hot.
In 1994, she was given almost $2.9 million in damages, which is about $5 million in today’s money. However, a judge later cut the award down to $640,000, and the case was eventually settled out of court.