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Tim Hortons tea spill leaves woman with second-degree burns

James

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I'm sure many have read about the recent incident at Tim Horton's in Richmond Hill where a young lady had 2nd degree burns to her legs due to her boyfriend knocking the table as he got up and consequently tipping the open cup of tea onto her lap.

There's been lots of comments, opinions and discussion on this one! Just wondering what UrbanToronto thinks...

http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/201...ill_leaves_woman_with_seconddegree_burns.html

Tim Hortons tea spill leaves woman with second-degree burns

Rushing to the washroom, Nancy Ceci says she wasn’t allowed in because it was being cleaned. Tim Hortons says its employees didn’t realize she was in distress.


Nancy Ceci received burns on her upper thighs when her boyfriend accidentally spilled a Tim Hortons tea on her legs.

By: Marco Chown Oved Staff Reporter, Published on Thu Aug 14 2014

It was very hot tea. But after it spilled on her legs, one Richmond Hill woman says she received some cold treatment.

Nancy Ceci stopped in at the Tim Hortons at King Rd. and Yonge St. last month to study with her boyfriend. He stood up, jostled the table and in a split second, the extra-large tea was all over her bare legs.

Now, the 22-year-old York University student, who has daily appointments at a burn clinic, can’t expose her legs to sunlight for a whole year.

When she called to complain about how the Timmy’s employees treated her, she says the company rebuffed her.

“Tim Hortons isn’t doing anything. Nothing. They’ve just wiped their hands of it. They’ve said they’re not responsible and ‘We’re not helping you,’†she told the Star.

Tim Hortons says they are still looking into the incident.

“We are very empathetic to Ms. Ceci’s situation and we are treating it very seriously with both care and compassion for the injuries that she has sustained,†wrote Tim Hortons spokesperson Michelle Robichaud in an email.

After conducting a week-long investigation, Ceci says the head office called her back and offered her a $50 gift card if she agreed to not go to the media with her story.

“I’m not going to sell my legs for $50,†said Ceci.

Tim Hortons contests parts of Ceci’s story and says their investigation into the incident is ongoing.

“When Ms. Ceci contacted us, we immediately launched an internal investigation and opened an insurance claim on her behalf. At that time, she was offered a Tim Card as a gesture of goodwill while our investigation process unfolds and with no strings attached,†she said.

While the infamous McDonald’s coffee burn lawsuit of the 1990s immediately springs to mind, legal experts say that even if Ceci sued Tim Hortons and won, there wouldn’t be a big payout.

There’s a cap on damages for pain and suffering in Canada, said Darcy Merkur, a Toronto tort lawyer who does personal injury work, and punitive damages against corporations have been reduced by the Supreme Court.

“Canadians are more practically minded,†Merkur said. “We don’t have wacky jury awards like the United States.â€

Ceci remembers opening the top of the hot tea and thinking it was too hot to drink right before her boyfriend knocked the table and sent it onto her lap.

“I didn’t even feel it right away. I didn’t even process what was going on,†said Ceci, who ran to the washroom but says she was stopped at the door by employees who were cleaning it.

“They’re like, ‘Oh no, you can’t come in here,’ and I’m like, ‘What do I do? My legs are burning!’ I was panicking,†she said.

She tried to blot the burns with paper towel, but her skin started coming off.

“It was the most disgusting, traumatizing thing. My skin just wiped off like it was wet paper,†she said.

Ceci says she cried her way to her car, where concerned customers came out with cups of ice before she sped off to the Southlake Regional Health Centre in Newmarket. There, she was diagnosed with second-degree burns on her upper thighs.

“Our Team Members were not immediately made aware that this guest was in distress when she initially indicated that she wanted to use the restroom while it was being cleaned,†wrote Tim Hortons’ Robichaud. “However, we understand that she was provided access when her situation was explained.â€

Weeks after the incident and Ceci is only starting to return to work. She hasn’t been able to study, has to visit the burn clinic everyday to have her bandages replaced and is on heavy painkillers.
“My whole life has stopped,†she said. “I can’t do anything for myself. I can’t drive. My boyfriend has had to take off work to take me to my appointments. I can’t shower. I can’t even go to the bathroom. It’s a nightmare. It’s so embarrassing.â€

Ceci has consulted a lawyer, but doesn’t have high hopes for a lawsuit.

“I’m not looking to get rich or anything. I was just expecting a little more compassion from the company,†she said. “Some attempt to at least compensate for all the losses I’m going through.â€

These kinds of burns are more common than people think, says Dr. Marc Jeschke, director of the Ross Tilley Burn Centre at Sunnybrook Hospital, who has personally operated on several patients who had full-thickness burns on their thighs and genital areas.

In summer, injuries tend to be worse because people are wearing shorts, Jeschke says, and a spill directly onto the skin will always be more severe than one onto pants, which will provide some insulation from the heat.

“It can vary from superficial to really, really full-thickness. It depends on the temperatur and the contact time,†he said.

Jeschke says anyone who spills a drink should immediately apply cold water — not ice, which could lead to frostbite — and if there is any blistering, they should go to hospital to have the burn checked out.
 
If she has a complaint it is with her boyfriend!
"Nancy Ceci stopped in at the Tim Hortons at King Rd. and Yonge St. last month to study with her boyfriend. He stood up, jostled the table and in a split second, the extra-large tea was all over her bare legs."

Tea needs to be made with very hot water and I bet if Tims had used only lukewarm water she would have been the first to complain.
 
Im sure many of us are reminded of the frivolous "hot coffee" lawsuit filed against McDonald's in the 90s - the case that proved it pays to be a complete idiot.

I have some advice for this woman: Either buy iced tea or be more cautious. Hot drinks, like all hot things, can cause burns.
 
Shouldn't she be suing her boyfriend instead? That, and gravity.

“My whole life has stopped,” she said. “I can’t do anything for myself. I can’t drive. My boyfriend has had to take off work to take me to my appointments. I can’t shower. I can’t even go to the bathroom. It’s a nightmare. It’s so embarrassing.”
...
“I’m not looking to get rich or anything. I was just expecting a little more compassion from the company,” she said. “Some attempt to at least compensate for all the losses I’m going through.”

Losses which are not the fault of the company, and her life has "stopped" because she can't drive and can't shower (hello sponge bath). That's rather precious. I think offering the giftcard was a mistake - it just makes for bad optics. Wait till the burn heals and the gawd forbid should there be a change in skintone.

AoD
 
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She's going to make some lawyer really happy.

Maybe the type of lawyer you would see during a commercial break on CP24, but most established lawyers wouldn't touch this one with a 60-foot gavel.
 
Im sure many of us are reminded of the frivolous "hot coffee" lawsuit filed against McDonald's in the 90s - the case that proved it pays to be a complete idiot.

I'm going to suggest you do some quick research on that McDonalds coffee case because it most certainly was not frivolous-- it was horrendous for the woman who suffered the burns and McDonalds (which had already heard warnings about how hot they kept their coffee before serving it to guests) would not even pay to cover the poor woman's medical bills. People make mistakes and coffee is spilled. But she was not an idiot, and could never have expected that her coffee would be served at ridiculously high temperatures.

The public has twisted that McDonalds case into a myth of a greedy individual out to wrongfully get money out of a large corporation, but that's simply not the case. And ultimately, it costs very little for a large company like McDonalds to ease the suffering of an incident involving their customer. I don't know enough about this latest Tim Hortons case to make my own verdict, and admittedly, tea or coffee are supposed to be hot. But please don't compare it to the McDonalds case or refer to the elderly woman who was horrifically burned by 180-degree-fahrenheit coffee as an idiot or her lawsuit "frivolous".

Watch "Hot Coffee" if you are interested in these sorts of individual-vs.-corporation lawsuits and the mythology around them... great documentary.
 
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Those blaming the victim don't see the bigger picture here. I hope she wins.
The bigger picture is surely that she bought tea at Tim Hortons. She put it on a table. Her boyfriend got up from the table and spilled the tea. She got burned. Sad and doubtless painful but her complaint is hardly with the tea-seller.
 
From what I gather, she bought a fresh cup of tea. It was boiling hot because fresh tea is prepared in boiling water. She sat down with her boyfriend at the table and opened the lid to cool down the tea quicker. That's when her boyfriend clumsily got up from the table and jostled the table, causing the tea to spill onto her bare lap, as she was wearing shorts at the time.

She then ran to the washroom but the employee cleaning the washrooms didn't know what had happened so, as per usual, they advised that the washrooms were being cleaned at the moment. It appears that once the employee(s) realized the situation at hand, they allowed her access to the washrooms and I'm sure everyone was then responding/reacting to the best of their capabilities.

If you read the girl's statements carefully, you'll note that she never says that the tea was hotter than it should be, merely that it was too hot to drink right away. Her complaint is solely on Tim Horton's response to her pain and suffering she endured as a result of her boyfriend's carelessness. Her anger is fueled by what she felt was the Tim Horton employee not allowing her into the washroom right away.

Hypothetically, let's say the Tim Horton employee noticed what had happened and she was allowed into the washroom right away. Would that have made her burns any less severe? Would she then not be crying all the way to the hospital? Would she not have to visit the burn clinic anymore?

What was the reason that she received her burns in the first place? I concur with others here, sue the boyfriend!
 
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The employee cleaning the washrooms probably couldn't understand English. I have seen a Horton's manager rehearsing lines with what i assume were foreign temp workers once. They were practicing greeting customers and learning how to pronounce words.
 
I'm going to suggest you do some quick research on that McDonalds coffee case because it most certainly was not frivolous-- it was horrendous for the woman who suffered the burns and McDonalds (which had already heard warnings about how hot they kept their coffee before serving it to guests) would not even pay to cover the poor woman's medical bills. People make mistakes and coffee is spilled. But she was not an idiot, and could never have expected that her coffee would be served at ridiculously high temperatures.

The public has twisted that McDonalds case into a myth of a greedy individual out to wrongfully get money out of a large corporation, but that's simply not the case. And ultimately, it costs very little for a large company like McDonalds to ease the suffering of an incident involving their customer. I don't know enough about this latest Tim Hortons case to make my own verdict, and admittedly, tea or coffee are supposed to be hot. But please don't compare it to the McDonalds case or refer to the elderly woman who was horrifically burned by 180-degree-fahrenheit coffee as an idiot or her lawsuit "frivolous".

Watch "Hot Coffee" if you are interested in these sorts of individual-vs.-corporation lawsuits and the mythology around them... great documentary.

The media will report without having all the facts! More information about the plot twist - http://www.upworthy.com/ever-hear-about-the-lady-that-spilled-coffee-on-herself-at-mcdonalds-then-sued-for-millions
 
Everyone knows that tea or coffee requires the use of boiling water and that water boils at 100°C or 212°F. Even at 69°C or 156°F, according to the Burn Foundation, one can receive 3rd degree burns in less than 1 second! I still believe that one should take precautions for oneself and that no law can protect you from everything.
 
"When she called to complain about how the Timmy’s employees treated her, she says the company rebuffed her."

You people need to learn how to read, seriously.
 

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