Couple Sues Over Hot Pickle Burn

The Associated Press



Saturday, Oct. 7, 2000; 3:44 p.m. EDT

Veronica M. Martin claims in a lawsuit filed in Knox County Circuit Court that the burn also caused her physical and mental pain. She is seeking $110,000. Her husband, Darrin Martin, is seeking $15,000, because he "has been deprived of the services and consortium of his wife."

The hamburger "was in a defective condition or unreasonably dangerous to the general consumer and in particular to (Veronica Martin)," according to the two-page lawsuit, which was reported in The Knoxville News-Sentinel on Saturday.

Representatives with Mar Inc., owner of the McDonald's franchise, did not return a telephone call from the newspaper.

The lawsuit says the Martins bought hamburgers at the McDonald's on Oct. 6, 1999.

"While attempting to eat the hamburger, the pickle dropped from the hamburger onto her chin," the lawsuit reads. "The pickle was extremely hot and burned the chin of (Mrs. Martin)."

Mrs. Martin had second-degree burns and is permanently scarred, according to the lawsuit.

In 1994, a New Mexico woman was awarded $2.7 million after suing McDonald's for burns she suffered when coffee she bought at a drive-through window spilled in her lap.

A judge later lowered the award to just under $500,000.