Chicago woman sues McDonald's over hot chocolate burns

Chicago - A Chicago-area woman is suing McDonald's because she says she was sold a hot chocolate that was too hot to drink. In 2009, she bought the beverage for her daughter but it spilled on the girl and allegedly caused "severe pain."

It sounds like a Seinfeld episode, when Kramer sued a coffee shop for selling him a drink he deemed too hot, after it spilled on his stomach. But Vicki LaRocco from Northlake, Ill., isn't joking. Her lawsuit alleges "McDonald's should have known that the hot chocolate was too hot to drink," the Chicago Tribune reports. In April 2009, LaRocco bought a McDonald's hot chocolate for her daughter at a drive-through in Schiller Park. The lid was improperly secured, the suit alleges, and the girl spilled the drink on her leg. The spill caused "severe pain and scarring," the lawsuit states. LaRocco is seeking unspecified damages. The Golden Arches must be facing deja vu: In 1994, McDonald's awarded a woman $2 million for burns she suffered when a hot coffee spilled on her lap at a drive-through. The amount was later reduced to $600,000, Consumerist reports. Just last month, a Brooklyn mother said she is suing Starbucks "over a cup of scalding tea that she claims severely burned her infant son because it didn't have a protective sleeve," the New York Post writes.