Airline Hot Coffee Spill Case to Get a New Trial

Coffee hot enough to seriously burn a passenger is too hot to be served on an airliner, a state appellate court ruled Monday.

The 4th District Court of Appeal ordered a new trial in a lawsuit filed against United Airlines by San Diego attorney Duane Sceper, who claimed that his sex life was ruined when scalding coffee spilled on his lap during a flight five years ago between Des Moines, Iowa, and Lincoln, Neb.

“Spilled coffee which results in personal injuries of this magnitude is obviously too hot to serve,” Justice Howard B. Wiener said in the 2-1 decision.

Potential Danger

The court said the possible desire of some passengers to be served extremely hot coffee was outweighed by the potential dangers of handling scalding liquids in flight.

The ruling reversed a decision by San Diego County Superior Court Judge Artie Henderson, who found that Sceper failed to demonstrate negligence on United’s part.

Presiding Justice Daniel J. Kremer dissented from the majority opinion. Kremer said there was no evidence the spilled coffee was at an undrinkable temperature. Without such evidence, he said, the majority would be requiring airlines to serve tepid coffee to minimize an already low risk of injury to passengers.

The same logic, he said, would require “that airlines must serve only finger food to minimize the predictable risk that some passenger will injure himself through misuse of a tined fork or sharp knife.”

The decision was not certified for publication in official court reports and thus will not be readily usable as a precedent.

Attorneys for United had argued that Sceper was responsible for whatever injuries he suffered, contending his knee had knocked the coffee off his tray table and into his lap. Sceper’s lawyers argued that a bump from a passing flight attendant had caused the spill.

The scalding coffee caused second-degree burns and forced Sceper and his wife into ongoing therapy for sexual problems, according to the San Diego man’s attorney, T. Michael Reed.

Harry Carter, an attorney for United, said the decision would be appealed to the state Supreme Court.