A jury from the Los Angeles County says that Starbucks is responsible for the injuries of a burned customer during a failed entrance beverages, for a sum of $ 50 million.
Los Angeles resident, Michael García, said he was severely burned in 2020 after his hot tea tray “collapsed about himself,” he said in a statement. First, then another hot drink collapsed in his lap, his eyelids appeared. He suffered severe burns, even his genitals, he said.
Garcia accused Starbucks of negligence, and produced a store security video that seemed to show that one of the venti size drinks sat on the tray when a barista passed the order through an entrance window.
The jury agreed on Friday and ordered the company based in Seattle to pay Garcia $ 50 million for past and future damages that include pain and suffering.
Starbucks said he plans to appeal the verdict.
“We sympathize with Mr. García, but we do not agree with the jury's decision that we were to blame for this incident and we believe that the damages granted are excessive,” said Corporate Communications Director of Starbucks on Saturday, Jaci Anderson, on Saturday in a statement to The Times. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the management of hot drinks.”
The prize dates back to the civil court trials against McDonald's after a jury in 1994 awarded $ 3 million to an Albuquerque woman who was scalded by Coffee Hot. Stella Liebeck, who was 79, suffered third grade burns that required multiple skin grafts. His lawyers had argued that McDonald's had a history of hundreds of consumer injury complaints.
Later, a judge greatly reduced the prize, but the case of McDonald's was frequently quoted in campaigns by limits in the tort awards.
Garcia's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comments from the Times, but they told another means of communication that Starbucks entailed some responsibility for the actions of his barista, who according to the judicial records said he did not remember the incident.
“This verdict of the jury is a critical step to hold Starbucks for flagrant contempt for customer security and the inability to accept responsibility,” said one of García's lawyers, Nick Rowley. Associated press.
The incident described in the lawsuit occurred on February 8, 2020, in a Starbucks Drive-Throughs in Exhibition Park. Garcia, a 25 -year -old postmates delivery driver, was collecting a request for three hot windows. They were served in a cardboard beverage carrier.
At some point during the transfer, two of the Tés fell from the carrier and spilled in Garcia's lap, leaving it with “horrible lesions of burns that required multiple surgeries” and “permanent disfiguration” in the region of his groin, according to judicial documents reviewed by the Times. The medical records submitted in the case show that two skin grafts were submitted and suffered lasting pain and sexual dysfunction.
Garcia blamed a barista to spill, who, according to him, “did not safely open the covers of each hot drink that was negligent, careless and reckless to the plaintiff.” He testified that from the beginning he could see that the lid on one of the drinks was not established.
Starbucks in his initial response argued that Garcia did not suffer “no injury, damage or loss for any act or omission” by his employees, according to judicial documents.
During the trial, the company also alleged some fault with Garcia as a result of “contributory negligence,” according to the documents.
Before the jury trial, Starbucks offered Garcia $ 3 million, and later $ 30 million, to liquidate, CBS news reported.
Garcia agreed that the company apologizes and changes its policies, including the addition of a requirement that all employees verify that hot drinks are safe before giving customers, according to the CBS report. Starbucks rejected the terms, and the case went to trial.
The resident of southern Los Angeles, Muriel Evans, presented a similar demand Against Starbucks in 2024, claiming that he suffered significant nerve damage and disfigurement after a barista drove a cup of coffee and spilled it in his lap. The lawyers in the case accused Starbucks of “reckless contempt” for customer safety by serving hot drinks in defective cups “despite countless reports and warnings.”
Evans's jury trial is scheduled for February 2026.
