My four-year-old suffered second-degree burns from Maccas nuggets

The mum sued McDonald's for serving "unreasonably and dangerously hot" food to children. She's just been awarded $1 million in damages. 

Olivia was four when she suffered second-degree burns from a McDonald's chicken nugget.

The scalding McNugget fell on her leg as her mum was pulling out of the drive-through, leaving her "scarred and disfigured."

The girl's parents then sued the fast-food chain for serving their nuggets "unreasonably and dangerously hot" without any warning.

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Philana pictured at the drive-through moments before the incident. Image: Local 10 News

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"I removed a clump of skin from her thigh"

Philana Holmes was in the McDonald's drive-through ordering Happy Meals for her kids right before the incident occurred. It was all business as usual until it wasn't.

In security camera footage, you can see Philana take two Happy Meal boxes from the drive-through staff member and reach around to pass them to her son and daughter in the backseat. 

She then claims that as she exited the drive-through she heard her daughter Olivia, four, screaming loudly.

When she pulled over to see what had happened, she discovered that her daughter had spilled the six nuggets on her lap. 

One of the nuggets had burned the skin on her thigh - an injury the family later found out was a second-degree burn. 

"I removed a clump of her skin, and it fell apart in my hand. Her thigh – upper thighs – they were really, really red. She screamed, she screamed," the mum recounted. 

While the wound healed in a few weeks, her daughter is left with a scar that she calls her "nugget" and is apparently fixated on having it removed, the South Florida SunSentinel reports. 

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The second-degree burns on Olivia's thighs. Image: YouTube

McDonald's was found liable and had to pay $1 million in damages

Philana and her husband Humberto then sued McDonald's, seeking $A22 million in damages. 

Their lawyers argued that the restaurant chained served a chicken nugget that was "defective, harmful and unfit for human treatment."

"The Chicken McNuggets in that Happy Meal were unreasonably and dangerously hot (in terms of temperature) and caused the skin and flesh around the thighs of Olivia Holmes to burn," the lawsuit read.

They then told the court that the franchise failed to warn of the dangers of the nuggets and acted negligently in serving such a hot nugget. 

Holding up the Happy Meal box in court he remarked, "The reasonable, foreseeable, intended use is for a child to handle this box. The law implies a promise from a company to, in this case, a child.

"And if it’s preventable, it’s warnable, you have to warn someone about it, and if you don’t, you’re liable."

But the franchise defended itself by arguing that it must serve hot nuggets in order to meet food safety standards. 

The jury then decided that McDonald's was liable for the injury and had to pay $A1 million dollars in damages to the family. 

Originally published as My four-year-old suffered second-degree burns from Maccas nuggets