$445,000 Settlement for Family of Infant Burned by Hot Coffee

Blume Goldfaden associate Kenneth Elwood represented an infant, now five years old, who suffered second degree burns at an International House of Pancakes after a full carafe of containing hot coffee was accidentally knocked over in 1991.

Coffee carafes designed in the 1950s and used at IHOP franchises, had no safety device to prevent spills. IHOP strongly recommended that these dangerous carafes be replaced with newer models that required pushing a button before the coffee would pour.

The IHOP in Teaneck, New Jersey failed to replace the carafes and also filled the carafes to the top, despite a company manual that required waiters to fill the carafe only 1/3 full.