Boy Burned By Nacho Cheese Sues Disney

[The Straight Story]

Boy Burned By Nacho Cheese Sues Disney
Lawsuit Claims Disney Nacho Cheese Scalded 4-Year-Old

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A family plans to sue Walt Disney Parks and Resorts after they say their 4-year-old son was badly burned by the food he was eating at Magic Kingdom.

In a lawsuit, filed in a California District Court on Wednesday, the parents of Isaiah Harris, 4, said he suffered second- and third-degree burns, claiming, "the nacho cheese was scalding hot."

Attorney Sean Cahill said Isaiah somehow spilled the nachos on himself when trying to eat dinner during a visit to the Magic Kingdom's Tomorrowland on March 17, 2010. It was the family's first trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, and Cahill said the family had dinner at Cosmic Ray's Starlite Cafe.

"Typically, to cause the type of burns that Isaiah experienced, the nacho cheese would have had to have been at least 160 degrees Fahrenheit," said Cahill, who admits he does not know the exact temperature of the cheese at the time.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/26827589/detail.html#

[MrModerate]

1. Hard to say. I suppose the cheeselike-food-heater could have been set improperly.

Which would be Disney's fault.

[Maru Kitteh]

27. Yes, those heaters can be set hot enough to do this. I don't know why.

[MrModerate]

28. Agreed. Any sensible design would have a maximum temperature above which . . .

it simply couldn't be set. Relying on stressed-out, unevenly trained fast food workers to select the correct temperature is a recipe for, well, a law suit.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. Why are they suing from California?

Wouldn't Orlando-ish areas by the proper venue?

Don't know much about civil law, that's why I'm asking.

[The Straight Story]

5. Might be HQ in CA (nt)

[blondeatlast]

18. Right--chances are, the Orlando park (as well as several other entities) are named separately,

as well.

[liberal N proud]

3. Here is your sign

Hot food is served hot. Some foods stay hot longer than others. Parents should have known this and used caution.

[DainBramaged]

4. Suing because the kid couldn't keep the food on the table or because the parents weren't paying

attention? They will have a very hard time proving this. A threat of a suit sometimes results in a settlement........one year later.......and what is wrong with parents who feed artificial yellow chemical paste to a then 3 year old?

[joshcryer]

32. It should be relatively easy to prove.

They'll get an out of court settlement and Disney restaurants will be cautious about this in the future.

Melted cheese isn't exactly safe for children.

[MrsBrady]

6. food handler's training teaches you that food must reach at least 160 to be safe

I feel bad for the boy.

Isn't a parent supposed to check temperature of food before it's eaten?

I'll be curious about how this plays out.

[Jennicut]

7. I have 5 and 6 year old daughters. I always check their food at restaurants before they eat it.

The waiter or waitress usually will say the plate is hot if it is hot but I always make sure myself. I do it at home too, I guess it is a habit. Nothing worse then watching your child get accidentally burned by something.

[blondeatlast]

8. Yeah, Stella Liebeck was an opportunist, too (not). Second and third degree burns?

I'm rooting for Master Harris and his parents. There's no need to serve food at such a temp that it causes THIRD DEGREE burns. That poor child.

[DainBramaged]

9. And a year later, how do you know it's fact?

prejudging by the population that what the parents claim as truth is why we have a court system.


I'll wait to see if there is any fact to this claim before I pity the child.


For all we know, the parents spilled THEIR food on the kid.


"somehow spilled the nachos on himself" (on his face?)

[blondeatlast]

10. Note my second to last sentence. I won't try to change your mind.

I work in the legal profession; there's no need to educate me on how it works.

[DainBramaged]

11. Stella Liebeck was injured (didn't she put the hot coffee between her legs?)

In spite of your employment in the legal profession, why would you immediately find Disney guilty?

[blondeatlast]

14. Presumption of innocence (which doesn't exist in civil matters anyway) only applies to the justice

system. the public at large is allowed an opinion.

Why are you so quick to dismiss Disney's liability?

[DainBramaged]

15. Why are you so quick to convict them?

[blondeatlast]

16. I CAN'T find them liable, I'm not a jury. (there's no conviction--it's civil).

Third degree burns arent' opinion, they are fact and they are NASTY (I've seen the actual flesh, not just pics).

Why are you so quick to excuse the likes of Disney? You're a hair trigger if Toyota's involved...

[DainBramaged]

17. (sigh) I'm not excusing anyone, I find your lack of objectivity being in the legal profession

confusing.

So since you want to get into personal attacks, I'll let you go and spew how evil the world is to this poor poor boy....


Oh and so so sorry I ddon't know the terminology like you do. Jesus.

[blondeatlast]

20. What's a personal attack? And I work for lawyers--I don't claim at all to be objective.

Seriouskly, where's the personal attack? Has Toyota ever NOT been liable, in your eyes?

[66 dmhlt]

12. We're all rooting for the truth. And I think he's got a good case.

It's perfectly reasonable that cheese could easily have caused second and third degree burns. In the Stella Liebeck case ...

"McDonalds also said during discovery that, based on a consultant's advice, it held its coffee at between 180 and 190 degrees Fahrenheit to maintain optimum taste."

"Plaintiff's expert, a scholar in thermodynamics as applied to human skin burns, testified that liquids, at 180 degrees, will cause a full thickness burn to human skin in two to seven seconds."

Source:
http://www.caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event=showPage&pg=facts

[joshcryer]

31. Yeah, but let's be honest here, no parent should've let their kid go anywhere near freshly melted...

...cheese.

Cheese has a high melt point. You cannot, I repeat, cannot, just pour it on your mouth.

[Starry Messenger]

13. Thank you.

I thought I had taken leave of my senses when I opened this thread.

[blondeatlast]

23. C'mon, where's your pity for poor ol' Disney?

The legal "expertise", hypocrisy of some, and holier-than-thouness of this thread is downright disgusting.

[Starry Messenger]

25. Especially since Disney is *virulently* anti-union.

I guess that's ok if you are a "fun" oppressor of workers.

[Rex]

19. It would be very easy for the nacho cheese to be vulcan hot.

Afterall it is more a plastic/elastic chemical mixture than real cheese aged from milk. Still, accidents do happen and the customer assumes all responsibility in a rare food fatality at Jizney Land.

[blondeatlast]

21. Utterly and completely ridiculous. There is no such assumption. nt

[MrModerate]

29. Errrm . . . I think the poster *meant* to be ridiculous. Seemed that way to me. n/t

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[demwing]

22. I thought Cigarettes were the only product that were dangerous when used as intended

Apparently, food needs to be shifted into that category.

"Warning, food may be dangerous when touched or consumed. Seller and Manufacturer take no responsibility for injuries received while using food as intended."

[Manifestor_of_Light]

26. Foreseeability, people.

This burning was just as foreseeable as the Stella Liebeck case -- taking the lid off and putting sugar in it and spilling it.

I'm sure other people have been burned by hot food there at Disney World. Patterns emerge. Just like 700 people complained to McDonald's about being burned before the Stella Liebeck case.

[joshcryer]

33. Liebeck could not have forseen that her coffee was going to instantly cause burns.

Likewise it may have been difficult for a parent to foresee that melted cheese on a childs lip is not going to be safe (I would've caught it instantly if it was me since I've had this happen before).

[joshcryer]

30. I've gotten first degree burns on a cheese / meat dispenser.

Apparently you're supposed to go side-to-side with those things not front-to-back.

I was going "front to back" and pow, the tray hit the back of the dispenser, and stalled. My hand was there as the cheese / meat overflowed.

Hurt like a sumbitch.

But I ain't gonna sue.

Supposed to be hot. ;)