A Dunkin' customer is getting $3 million after being scalded by a hot coffee at the drive-thru

• A Dunkin' customer says hot coffee fell on her lap at a drive-thru, causing "severe" burns.
• Her lawyers say the woman, then aged 70, had to relearn how to walk and can't go out in the sun.

A Dunkin' franchisee is paying a woman from Atlanta $3 million to settle a lawsuit after she said that a hot coffee with a loose lid fell on her lap, which caused severe burns, and left her needing to relearn how to walk.

The woman, who was 70 at the time of the incident, suffered third-degree burns in the drive-thru of a Dunkin' in Sugar Hill, Georgia in February 2021, attorneys Morgan & Morgan said in a statement to the press.

The franchise location is owned by Golden Donuts, the attorneys said. Golden Donuts declined to comment when contacted by Insider.

When an employee handed the cup of coffee to the woman, its lid wasn't secured and came off shortly after, spilling the hot coffee on her legs and body, her lawyers said.

Morgan & Morgan said that the plaintiff suffered second and third-degree burns to her thighs, groin, and abdomen and required "extensive" skin grafts, with her medical bills adding up to more than $200,000.

Morgan & Morgan attorney Benjamin Welch said in a statement that the woman "had to re-learn how to walk due to the severity of her burns."

"Her burns were so severe that she spent weeks in the burn unit at Grady Health and has had to entirely alter the way she lives her life," Welch said. "Walking still causes her pain, she can't go out in the sun, and she must apply creams and ointments to her burns several times a day."

Other restaurants have faced similar lawsuits. Most famously, a woman in New Mexico was awarded $2.9 million by a jury after suffering third-degree burns from a McDonald's drive-thru coffee, though her payout from the fast-food giant was ultimately reduced by more than three-quarters.

Do you work in fast food? Got a story? Email this reporter at gdean@insider.com.