Twenty-one years later, a Fresno lawyer said McDonald's is still serving piping hot coffee. Nicholas "Butch" Wagner has sued McDonald's in Fresno County Superior Court "in excess of $2 million" on behalf of 74-year-old Clovis homemaker Joan Fino. Wagner said Fino suffered second-degree burns to her groin area after coffee spilled on her lap at the drive-up window of McDonald's in Clovis at Alluvial and Temperance avenues in August 2012. "It still hurts," Fino said this week. "I have trouble sleeping because the burning sensation doesn't go away."
...Wagner said McDonald's serves its coffee extra hot to save money. By keeping the coffee at "scalding hot temperatures," the coffee keeps its taste longer and McDonald's "doesn't have to re-brew coffee as often," he said. In its defense, McDonald's puts a warning -- in both English and Spanish -- on its coffee cup that says: "Caution Handle with Care I'm Hot."
...Fino said she was alone in her sports utility vehicle when she ordered two cups of coffee -- one for her and one for her husband -- on Aug. 14, 2012. She recalled that when she was handed the first cup, coffee spilled out from under the lid and burned her fingers. She quickly put the cup in a cup holder.
When the second cup was handed to her, the coffee spilled onto her lap, Fino said. "I was screaming and crying but the lady at the window didn't even offer to help me," she said. The pain was so excruciating, she said, she unbuckled her seat belt, got out of her car, and raced to restroom. "I left the car running in the drive-through," she said.
She recalled crying in the bathroom, but "no one would talk to me or help me." She said a female employee finally approached, but she just wanted her name and phone number. By then, someone had moved her car to the parking lot, Fino said. She then drove home, still crying, she said. Her husband Robert took her to what was then Clovis Community Hospital...