Judge Orders Mediation in Hooper’s Hot Coffee Scalding Lawsuit Against McDonald’s

During a case management conference Friday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Christopher Lui ordered mediation between plaintiff Tonya Marie Hooper and the defendant, Palmdale based-Laddaran Management Corp., after attorneys for both sides said they were amenable to a pretrial settlement. The order moves the dispute out of immediate court preparation and into a negotiated setting between Hooper and the Palmdale-based management firm.

The court set a post-mediation status conference for July 2, 2027, and left a trial date on the calendar if parties do not resolve the matter: the trial is scheduled for October 11, 2027 in Los Angeles Superior Court. Attorneys for both sides, according to the court exchange reported in local filings, said they were amenable to a pretrial settlement, creating a clear window for talks between now and the July status date.

“According to Hooper’s suit, she bought a large hot coffee and a biscuit in the drive‑through of the McDonald’s restaurant in the 1760 block of West Century Boulevard on Nov. 8, 2023. She put the coffee cup in a holder in her vehicle console and drove to her apartment, where she tried to sip the drink,” the court filing excerpt states, laying out the core factual allegation that the burn occurred after Hooper left the Gramercy Park area McDonald’s and attempted to sip the beverage at home.

Hooper, 35, also originally sued McDonald’s Restaurant of California Inc., but dropped that part of the complaint on Wednesday, according to the news excerpt. With McDonald’s Restaurant of California Inc. removed from the pleading, mediation will proceed between Hooper and Laddaran Management Corp., the Palmdale-based business management firm named in the complaint.

The publicly available news excerpt and the truncated original filing lack several routine case details: the civil complaint itself, a case number, the names of plaintiff and defense counsel, any medical records or descriptions of injuries, and any formal explanation in court filings for why McDonald’s Restaurant of California Inc. was dismissed. The relationship between Laddaran Management Corp. and the McDonald’s at the 1760 block of West Century Boulevard, including whether Laddaran operates or franchises that location, is not specified in the materials provided.

If mediation does not produce a settlement, the parties will return to Los Angeles Superior Court for the July 2, 2027 status conference before proceeding to the October 11, 2027 trial date. The case now pivots on those scheduled settlement talks between 35-year-old plaintiff Tonya Marie Hooper and Palmdale-based Laddaran Management Corp. in the hot-coffee claim stemming from the Nov. 8, 2023 drive-through purchase.