Group Litigation Orders
Group Litigation Order
Ref No: 8
Name of Group Litigation Order: McDonalds Hot Drinks
Date of Order: 22/05/01
Judge: Master Turner, Senior Master of the Bench Division
Court: Queen's Bench Division
Managing Court: Royal Courts of Justice
Lead Solicitors: Messrs Clarke Willmott & Clarke
Defining Issues: (a) whether the Defendant was negligent in dispensing and serving hot drinks at the temperature at which in fact they did in these cases, (b) whether it was necessary for the Defendant in order to properly discharge any duty of care owed towards the Claimants, to dispense and serve their hot drinks at some lower temperature than in fact they did, and, if so, at what maximum temperature, (c) whether the cups used by the Defendant were of such unsound and /or inadequate construction as to render the Defendant's use of them for the service of hot drinks to their customers, negligent, (d) whether the lids used by the Defendant for such purposes were of such poor fit or otherwise so inappropriate as to render the Defendant's use of them for the service of hot drinks to their customers, negligent, (e) whether there was a duty upon the Defendant to warn their customers as to the risk of scalding from hot drinks, (f) if there was such a duty, whether the Defendant was in breach of it, (g) as regards the hot drinks which they produced for sale to the customers, whether the Defendant was in breach of the Consumer Protection Act 1987 because those hot drinks were "defective".