The city of Long Beach has agreed to pay $300,000 to the guardian of a child who was allegedly burned by a Cup Noodles soup at a city-run day camp in 2021.
A lawsuit against the city was filed last year on the then 7-year-old’s behalf alleging negligence.
The City Council approved the settlement at its meeting Tuesday.
According to the complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court, the child attended the Silverado Park day camp Aug. 23, 2021, where she purchased a Nissin Cup Noodles for lunch.
The styrofoam container, the complaint said, should have been filled with hot water — as directed on the packaging. But staff allegedly filled it with water and then heated the entire container in the microwave.
“[H]ot water was to be added to the Nissin Cup Noodles so that the water would not become unreasonably and dangerously hot and the Styrofoam packaging would not become compromised,” the plaintiffs wrote in the complaint.
The cup spilled on the child, causing “severe burns and permanent scarring.”
Benjamin T. Ikuta, an attorney with the firm that filed the suit on behalf of the girl, told the Long Beach Post that he was happy the city took responsibility for the incident.
“The City of Long Beach obviously should not have handed a small child essentially a styrofoam cup of boiling water,” he said.
Ikuta and the city did not immediately respond to The Times’ requests for comment.
