• by Tanya Gazdik , July 11, 2024

If the next time you order a hot beverage in a public place and it is served lukewarm, you can thank the litigious consumers who came before you. 

The latest is Tahjana Lewis, a Connecticut woman, who is suing JetBlue for $1.5 million, alleging she was left with "disfiguring burns" after hot tea water spilled on her during in-flight beverage service amid turbulence.

"The passenger claims crew members served water at an ‘unreasonably’ hot temperature during a time when ‘ongoing turbulence’ made it unsafe to perform beverage service,” according to USA Today.  “The complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut, alleges JetBlue was ‘careless’ and failed to provide her with ‘reasonably safe traveling conditions.’”

The fight from Orlando to Hartford hit a patch of rough air that led pilots to flash the seatbelt sign — but the cabin crew kept on serving beverages, according to Business Insider.

“The flight staff also failed to properly administer first aid to Lewis after the incident happened, according to the lawsuit,” according to CBS MoneyWatch. “Lewis claims she suffered severe burns on her upper chest, legs, buttocks and right arm as a result of the spill, and that some of burns will be permanently disabling and involve a great deal of pain and medical expenses.”

Climate change is responsible for more turbulence, Guy Gratton, an associate professor of aviation and the environment at Cranfield University told Business Insider. 

As turbulence-related injuries go, it’s hardly the worst. 

“The lawsuit comes during a spate of high-profile incidents in which airline passengers have gotten hurt during intense turbulence, according to the New York Post. “Those include a 73-year-old Singapore Airlines flyer who died when the plane on which he rode plunged 6,000 feet, tossing passengers around the cabin like clothes in a washing machine.”

It’s also not the first time a consumer has sued a major company for burns from a hot beverage. McDonald's has faced faced several similar lawsuits. One of the first, brought by Stella Liebeck in 1994, became “the poster child for critics of frivolous lawsuits,” according to NPR. 

She filed suit after the restaurant offered her a mere $800 in compensation for her injuries. 

“Ultimately the jury awarded Liebeck $200,000 in compensatory damages, which was reduced to $160,000 because she was found to be partially responsible for the spill,” per NPR. “They also suggested that McDonald's pay $2.7 million in punitive damages, a sum that was based on the revenue from two days of coffee sales. … The trial judge reduced the punitive damages to $480,000, and Liebeck and McDonald's ultimately reached an undisclosed settlement.