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Starbucks was ordered to pay a man $50 million after he filed a lawsuit against the company when he was severely burned by hot tea that spilled in his lap at a drive-through. According to one of the victim’s lawyers, the injuries were permanent and life-changing.
Michael Garcia, a delivery driver, sued Starbucks after he was forced to undergo skin grafts because a venti-sized Starbucks hot tea spilled onto his crotch area on Feb. 8, 2020. He claimed that the Starbucks employee did not properly secure the cup into the takeout carrier, causing the spill and leaving him with “severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.”
He claimed to have suffered physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, inconvenience, grief, disfigurement, physical impairment, anxiety and emotional distress as a result of the burns.
“This jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” Michael Garcia’s attorney, Nick Rowley, said in a statement after the legal victory.
Starbucks stated that it will appeal the $50 million judgement.
“We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” a Starbucks spokesperson said in a statement. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
In 2017, a woman in Florida who was burned by a cup of Starbucks coffee was awarded a little more than $100,000 for her injuries – $15,492.14 for her medical bills and an additional $85,000 for her pain and suffering. The woman was burned by a 20-ounce coffee she had purchased through the drive-thru and received first-and second-degree burns and permanent scarring when the lid came off the cup and the hot beverage spilled onto her lap.
Apparently, the cost of someone getting burned by a hot Starbucks drink spilled onto their lap has gone way, way up over the past eight years.