Burn Injury Resource Center
In late September, a 13-month-old girl received severe burns from an accident at a Starbucks Coffee shop in Stuart, FL.
According to the local sheriff’s office, witnesses saw the mother of Lourdes Marsh place the infant in a clip-on tabletop chair that had been manually attached to the table. The chair has no legs that touch the ground, and such a chair is meant for children who are about Lourdes’ age. But for some reason, the weight of the child placed into the chair caused the table to fall over, sending a large cup of very hot coffee and another large cup of hot tea onto Lourdes.
Lourdes received second-degree burns to her face and upper torso. Witnesses said that skin was steaming, red, and coming off her body. A fire/rescue spokesman said the burns covered 20 percent of her body. For a child that small, 20 percent is a dangerously large portion of the body. What’s more, blistering of the skin from burns is a dangerous situation–not only does it require immediate professional medical care, but it makes it possible that the child will have permanent scars. While the child was being taken by helicopter to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami as a precaution, she was alert, which was a positive sign. And after a few days, Lourdes was recovering at home, although the extent of any permanent scarring will not be know for some time.
It should be noted that Starbucks did not provide the infant seat to the Marsh family. The seat was brought into the Starbucks by Lourdes’ mother. An alert was issued by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, warning parents about potential danger with these seats. So legal liability might rest with the maker of the child seat, although Starbucks could be named in the lawsuit as well, because the table was not able to hold a seat that is made specifically to attach to it. Also, the liquid in the two cups was so hot that it might have been an unreasonable danger.
If you or someone you know suffers a burn injury or a smoke inhalation injury, you should call Kramer & Pollack LLP in Mineola, NY so that the personal injury attorneys in that firm can determine whether another party has legal liability for injuries suffered, and if the injured party has a solid legal case.