STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- An arbitrator has awarded $52,500 to a Staten Island woman who was scalded by a hot cup of coffee three years ago bought at a Dongan Hills Wendy's fast-food restaurant.

Carol Liubicich Ayoub, now 58, purchased the coffee at the drive-through window of the Wendy's at 1661 Hylan Blvd. on Oct. 3, 2012.

The liquid was "excessively hot" and "unsafely or improperly packaged," alleged a lawsuit filed in state Supreme Court, St. George, in February 2013.

Ayoub suffered burns and scarring to her left hand and left knee and was treated at Staten Island University Hospital's Burn Center in Ocean Breeze, said court records.

She sued Rawson Food Services, a New Jersey-based Wendy's franchisee, Princeton Food Services and Wendy's International Inc.

At the time the suit was filed, Ayoub lived in Rosebank, although public records indicate she now resides in Graniteville.

Ayoub and the defendants agreed to resolve the matter through binding arbitration, with the maximum award being $100,000 and the minimum being $0, said court filings.

The hearing was completed earlier this year.

Arbitrator Joseph Ehrlich found the defendants 70 percent liable for the incident and Ayoub 30 percent liable, his report shows.

According to Ehrlich's report, Ayoub and her daughter, Elizabeth Ayoub, had gone to Wendy's to pick up food.

The younger woman was driving, and Ayoub was in the passenger seat.

At the drive-through window, the daughter was handed a cup of coffee which she passed to her mother.

Ayoub testified her daughter's hands were on the bottom of the cup, and she put her hands on the top of the cup to take the beverage, said the arbitrator's report. The lid wasn't secured, and the coffee spilled onto her left hand and left knee, Ayoub testified, according to the report.

However, under cross-examination, Ayoub and her daughter's testimony were inconsistent with the exact manner in which the coffee was passed between them, said the report.

The defense also argued the two women should have been more aware of what they were doing, the report said.

Ehrlich awarded Ayoub $75,000 in damages, which resulted in a net award of $52,500, due to her comparative liability.

Justice Kim Dollard recently confirmed the award.

Ayoub's lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ayoub is far from the first person to be awarded damages for burns suffered from spilled coffee.

Over the years, hundreds of customers around the country, including a number on Staten Island, have sued retailers after they were allegedly scalded by coffee they had purchased.

Stella Liebeck, an Albuquerque, N.M. woman, was involved in perhaps the most notorious case of a customer suing over a coffee scalding. She suffered third-degree burns when McDonald's coffee that was 180 to 190 degrees spilled onto her lap.

A jury awarded her $2.9 million in damages, which the trial judge later knocked down to $640,000. Afterward, the two sides reached an undisclosed settlement.

As an outgrowth of that case, McDonald's and other coffee outlets began printing warning labels on their hot-beverage cups.