Jessica Sussan Wishart is suing McDonald’s franchisees Robert and Sonya Vigors and Quebani Pty Ltd after a coffee she purchased from the store left her with multiple second-degree burns. 

According to Wishart’s District Court statement of claim, she purchased the coffee from McDonald’s in Renmark, a small rural town in the Riverland region of South Australia, in April 2009.

The document read “while sitting in the front passenger seat [of a car] she experienced a burning sensation to the fingers of her right hand, which was holding the cup.

“Due to the intense heat emanating from the cup and the failure of [McDonald’s] to properly secure the plastic lid, hot coffee spilled on to her thighs,” reports The Advertiser.

According to the claim, Wishart was taken to hospital following the incident, which left her with burns to her inner thigh, groin and buttock.

The blisters range in size, with the largest measuring “8cm by 3cm by 3cm.”

The document explains the incident has left Wishart both physically and emotionally scarred.

It states she “has permanent scarring and had difficulty walking…she no longer drinks coffee or goes into McDonald’s stores and “experiences anxiety and revulsion and feels inhibited.”

Wishart is requesting that she receive compensation for the store’s negligence.

In a similar case almost 20 years ago, American pensioner Stella Liebeck was awarded $US2.8 million after a hot coffee she purchased from McDonald’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico left her with burns to six percent of her body.

Morry Bailes, legal expert and managing partner, Tindall Gask Bentley told The Advertiser it is unlikely Wishart would receive as much as Liebeck because juries decide on compensation in the US.

“In SA, damages are assessed by judges alone… that tends to result in more conservative assessments,” he said.