Customer Sues Niantic Dunkin’ Over Hot Coffee Spill

NIANTIC, CT — A customer is suing a local Dunkin’, claiming he suffered severe burns after being served hot coffee with an unsecured lid.

The plaintiff, Wendell Johnson of Danbury, filed the lawsuit on Dec. 1 in Superior Court in New London, and he is seeking money damages.

The lawsuit claims Johnson suffered second-degree burns to his right side during a visit to the restaurant last July.

Attorney Christina Hanna of Shelton, who is representing Johnson, said her client has suffered disfigurement, scarring, and pain, and he has had to incur costs for medical care and plastic surgery.

Johnson went through the drive-thru at a Dunkin’ on Flanders Road in Niantic on or around July 1, 2025 and ordered a cup of decaffeinated hot coffee.

The lawsuit claims the coffee was still brewing, so a worker told Johnson to pull forward and wait, and the beverage would be delivered to his vehicle. An employee then came and handed Johnson the coffee through the driver’s side window. Johnson took the cup with his left hand, and went to put it in the console to his right.

“As he did so, the lid became dislodged and came off,” the lawsuit states.

When the lid came off, hot coffee spilled and scalded Johnson along his right side, causing second-degree burns and “severe, painful and permanent injuries,” according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims Dunkin’ workers were negligent and careless. It claims the employees failed to properly secure the cup’s lid, failed to check if it was secured, failed to deliver the cup properly, and failed to warn the plaintiff about the risk of spillage and burns.

It also claims staff failed to make sure the coffee wasn’t too hot and failed to make sure Johnson had a secure grasp on the cup.

The lawsuit asserts the defendants failed to properly train employees.

The litigation names Stonington Foods LLC, doing business as Dunkin’, AKA Thomas Serpa Group, AKA Apres Management, as defendants.

Dunkin’ did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.

In a highly-publicized similar case, a customer sued McDonald’s decades ago, claiming injuries from too-hot coffee, and won a $2.8 million jury award, according to the American Museum of Tort Law in Winsted.