Amtrak is fighting a lawsuit filed by a New York woman who was left with permanent scars after hot tea burned her legs just a year after Dunkin Donuts paid out $3 million in a container of hot coffee

A New York woman is suing Amtrak, alleging she suffered severe burns when a sudden jolt on the train caused hot tea to spill on her legs during a summer trip last year.

Ophelia Rawles, 62, of Harlem, claims she was injured when the train suddenly shook just before departing Penn Station on July 19, 2023, forcing her to endure an agonizing eight-hour journey.

According to court documents, obtained by Atlanta Black StarRawles was on her technique to Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to go to family when the train lurched forward, tipping her cup and spraying hot liquid in all places, making her wince in pain.

“It took my breath away,” said a retired New York Police Department official: According to New York Post. Worse still, Rawles was wearing shorts on the time, leaving her legs exposed and with no barrier to guard her from the scalding tea. “The pain was excruciating. I could have had a heart attack,” she added.

A moment earlier, she collected tea from the canteen, where the staff poured hot water into a cup and covered it with a plastic lid. Rawles served a separate tea bag, which she placed on a tray next to the cup.

After returning to her seat, Rawles said she rigorously placed the tea bag into a cup of hot water and put the lid back on. From then on the whole lot was high quality until the train jerked all at once.

Rawles explained that the sudden jolts caused the drop-down tray in the front seat to “automatically drop, hit my tray and spill my cup of tea everywhere.”

Immediately, a nasty burn appeared on her left thigh.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, seeks unspecified damages and blames the incident on Amtrak’s “negligence and carelessness.”

According to the victim’s attorney, Max Leifer, one of the important thing allegations in the lawsuit is that Amtrak was negligent by serving a hot drink that was too hot.

Rawles has “permanent scarring requiring laser and other possible treatment. In addition to physical scars, the plaintiff alleges emotional and mental disabilities,” the lawsuit reads.

While Amtrak has not made any public comments concerning the lawsuit, it has issued a formal response legal documents filed in late September, indicating the corporate’s intention to fight Rawles in court.

In the filing, Amtrak argues that Rawles’ injuries “were caused solely by her own negligence” and “were the result of her assumption of risk based on her own culpable conduct.”

In its response, Amtrak argued that any potential damages needs to be limited and noted the statute of limitations to bring the case, saying Rawles could have missed the deadline to file a lawsuit.

The company, also often called National Railroad Passenger Corp., also urged a judge to maneuver the lawsuit from state court to federal court, maintaining that because Amtrak is a public entity and greater than half of its stock is owned by the U.S. government, it needs to be heard in federal court.

There is also significant legal precedent for such matters, as there have been various lawsuits through the years involving coffee or hot liquids served at dangerously high temperatures.

Last year, a notable case involved a Georgia woman who sued Dunkin’ Donuts and alleged that she was severely burned by a cup of hot coffee that was served to her in her automobile.

According to reported at the moment, “The lid fell off the cup, spilling coffee onto her lap and burning her skin. She suffered second- and third-degree burns on her thighs, groin and abdomen and required extensive skin grafts.

One of essentially the most famous hot liquids lawsuits occurred in 1992, when 79-year-old Stella Liebeck from New Mexico sued McDonald’s after she poured a cup of hot coffee on her lap, causing third-degree burns.

She initially sought $20,000 to cover medical bills, but ultimately received nearly $3 million in punitive damages, although this amount was later reduced.