Originally Posted by trytoflyhigh
As for Mc D's, the customer is negligent because he is too stupid not to spill or drink coffee without having the need for someone else to babysit him and let him/her know that the coffee might be too hot to drink, let alone spill it over themselves.
.... in this case, it is an unsuspecting passenger that had hot water spilled on them by someone else...
In the Mickey D's case the award was made as a punishment of Mickey's since they had been warned that they served coffee too hot, and did it to increase shelf life. Sure the person who spilled coffee was at fault, but the damage would have been considerably less severe if the coffee had been at an already-agreed-upon acceptable temperature.
In the current case, who spilled the hot water? If the plane lurched, the FA and the cup may have remained roughly stationary with respect to the plane. The water, not being subject to the same constraints, remained stationary with respect to the external reference. The two separated. Gravity then tossed the water at the pax. Sue the resposible party- the Law of Gravity.
Cheers.
Cheers.