Frank Morello’s attorney has spoken out about the scalding coffee spill that allegedly left the Long Island traveler with permanent scars.
Michael G. LoRusso, who represents the 63-year-old Suffolk County man, told The Post that Morello’s skin “immediately began to blister” after a Delta flight attendant dumped an “overheated” beverage on his right leg during an October 2025 flight from Puerto Rico to JFK Airport. The lawyer added that Morello was permanently scarred from the painful ordeal.
“It must have been pretty hot,” LoRusso said. “And when you’re serving it, you have to be super careful.”
Morello filed suit against Delta Air Lines in Queens Supreme Court on Monday, according to his attorney. The litigation seeks unspecified damages for injuries the passenger claims he suffered while returning home from vacation.
LoRusso claimed his client received no treatment for his burns until after the plane landed at JFK. The delay in medical attention forms part of the legal complaint against the carrier.
“It was an accident, yes, I understand that. But he got hurt,” LoRusso said.
The case joins a growing roster of airborne beverage litigation. In July 2025, a Queens couple sued Scandinavian Airlines for $10 million after a flight attendant accidentally spilled “excessively” hot coffee onto Aymara Corbo’s lap during a Copenhagen-to-Oslo flight, leaving her with severe burns, pain, suffering, and scarring, according to that litigation.
Morello’s lawsuit arrives more than three decades after the landmark Liebeck v. McDonald’s Restaurants case, in which 79-year-old Stella Liebeck suffered third-degree burns from 180- to 190-degree coffee at a New Mexico drive-through in 1992. Liebeck was hospitalized for a week and required skin grafts; her initial $2.7 million award was later reduced in a confidential settlement.
Delta did not immediately return a request for comment on Morello’s allegations.