Q: Piece of plastic/paper found in daughter's McDonald's drink. What do I do?
My mom took my 14 yo daughter to get a drink at McDonald's tonight, where they go all the time. Normally, my mom gets a lg Diet Coke and my daughter gets a lg sweet tea, but tonight they switched, and my daughter got the Diet Coke. There are a few employees at this McDonald's that do not like my mom (they were working when this took place, my mom and daughter both saw them) and have made that obvious in the past with their attitudes towards her, but she has never reported anything to their management company. After my daughter took a few sips of her drink, she had a chemical taste in her mouth. She took the top of her drink off and there was a piece of plastic/paper that was several inches in diameter in her Diet Coke. We believe bc my mom usually gets the Diet Coke, the employees who don't like her who were working put it there intentionally. What if my daughter had sucked it up through her straw and choked? We have the cup and plastic/paper saved. Do I have options? Thank you.
A: In order to have a claim for negligence or an intentional tort you must have suffered damages. Damages usually means physical damages or monetary damages. On the facts you provided, no one got hurt (fortunately). Since you suffered no damages, you would have no viable legal claims. Best option would be to complain to management and perhaps not go back to that store.
Tim Akpinar agrees with this answer
A:
Fortunately, it looks like no one was hurt here. From a legal standpoint, damages are not generally available to a claimant if they are forms of harm that could have been. Negligence or product cases are generally based on actual damages, primarily consisting of injuries substantiated by medical records. However, you are free to consult with a Tennessee injury attorney to discuss the matter in detail and make your own decision about what you'd want to do. Good luck.
Tim Akpinar
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