A young mother who dropped a "paper cup" of boiling water on herself in a Burger King restaurant and was scalded from her waist to her groin was awarded €17,500 in Dublin Circuit Civil Court yesterday.
Jane Freeman said that staff in Burger King in Dublin's Ilac Centre had given her the water after refusing to heat her baby's bottle.
Colm P Condon, counsel for Ms Freeman, said his client had been given the boiling water in a partly-filled, large cardboard beaker to carry out a do-it-yourself heating operation by placing the bottle in it.
Ms Freeman (24), of Dolphin's Barn, Dublin, said the cup had been left at her table. When she lifted it, it burned her fingers and she was forced to drop it, spilling the water over herself.
Burger King waitress Belinda O'Connor said it was a regular practice to give out boiling water to a mother who wished to heat a baby's bottle. She gave the water to Ms Freeman at the cash desk and had placed the beaker inside "three or four" other beakers.
Civil engineer David Semple said he inspected a coffee/boiling water machine in Burger King and found the water temperature to be in the mid-80s centigrade. If it had been put into a single container, Ms Freeman might not have scalded her fingers when she lifted it but would have been "frightfully conscious" of the heat.
Judge Mary Faherty said Ms Freeman had suffered first-degree burns and the manner of her reaction to lifting the container suggested that only a single container had been used.