Two women who were brutally attacked with boiling water by a Taco Bell manager and another employee are suing the popular fast food chain for over $1 million in damages.
The lawsuit was filed on July 13th and names Brittany Davis and her niece C.T as plaintiffs. C.T.’s identity has not been disclosed because she is a minor. Both women are being represented by prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump along with attorney Paul Grinke.
The incident, which took place on June 17 at a Dallas, Texas, Taco Bell, was captured on surveillance video and later posted online where it has since been viewed millions of times. The video was released after an attorney representing the women filed a temporary injunction to have the surveillance footage provided to both parties named in the complaint.
According to reports, the two females entered the Taco Bell to resolve an order that was incorrectly placed twice while they went through the drive-thru. After the women entered the restaurant, they were allegedly locked in by another employee. While disputing their $30 order, the manager can be seen approaching the two women with a bucket of boiling water. After dumping the water on the women, the two try to escape from the locked restaurant.
Surveillance footage shows the manager retreating to the back room and coming out with a second pot of boiling water. The two women were able to successfully escape the restaurant before the manager could douse them again.
The lawsuit claimed that after the two women escaped, a Taco Bell employee was clapping and laughing as the two women fled.
While the video shows the horrific attack in action, the lawsuit details the pain both women suffered. "Due to the scalding water that remained in their clothes against their bodies, C.T. and Brittany felt like they were ‘burning from the inside out,’" the lawsuit explained. "The store they believed would be place of horrors."
Following the attack, both women were treated for severe burns. In a press release by Crump, Davis and C.T.’s defense team detailed that both women “suffered deep and severe burns to large portions of their bodies.” It adds that “While en route to the hospital, Davis began to seize due to the trauma, and she would continue to seize as she was careflighted to Parkland’s ICU burn unit in Dallas.”
The lawsuit explains that Davis suffered at least 10 seizures as well as "deep burns on her chest and stomach with significant damage to her brain function due to the seizures causing her to lose some of her memory." C.T. Also suffered "severe burns to her face, chest, legs, arms, and stomach." The burns are expected to leave C.T. with facial discoloration and scarring.
Taco Bell released a statement addressing the attack on the two women. In a statement, they explained that they "take the safety and wellbeing of team members and customers seriously." They added that they were in communication with the owner of that particular franchise but declined to comment further on the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names Taco Bell Corp, Yum! Brands, Taco Bell of America, the Taco Bell franchise store, North Texas Bells, and the two employees who attacked the women as defendants.
The lawsuit specifically lays blame on the individual employees and Taco Bell for being negligent in its hiring practices. The lawsuit also accuses Taco Bell of failing to prevent injuries to its customers, premises liability, and gross negligence by all named defendants.
