The case arose when a young girl sought compensation after having been scalded on a plane from Mallorca to Vienna when a hot coffee that had been served to her father tipped over for unknown reasons.
“An airline is liable for the harm caused by a spilled cup of hot coffee,” the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg said on Thursday in a landmark ruling. The court specified that airlines can be held liable for injuries resulting from “accidents” involving hot drinks served mid-air.
They referred to the EU’s definition of an “accident,” which “covers all situations occurring on board an aircraft in which an object used when serving passengers has caused bodily injury to a passenger, without it being necessary to examine whether those situations stem from a hazard typically associated with aviation.”
Airlines can limit liability at €124,000 if they manage to prove that the accident was not a result of negligence but for example caused by someone else.
