A California delivery driver was awarded $50 million in damages after a jury agreed a Starbucks location was negligent in its handling of a scalding hot tea.
Michael Garcia sued the cafe chain after a tea spilled in his lap at a drive-thru and caused permanent disfigurement to his penis. His attorney Nick Rowley said in a press release that Garcia’s “life has been forever changed” by the accident.
“No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” Rowley said.
Starbucks said it plans to appeal, adding that it has “always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores.”
“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,” Starbucks said in a statement.
Garcia was working as a Postmates delivery driver on Feb. 8, 2020, when he arrived at the Los Angeles Starbucks to pick up three venti “medicine ball” teas, according to his attorneys. He was handed a cardboard carrier with the drinks at the drive-thru when a cup fell directly into his lap and the top popped off one of the drinks.
Video provided by Rowley’s firm shows the Starbucks employees preparing the drinks and the moment the tea spills into Garcia’s lap. Garcia’s attorneys argued in court that the employee at the window failed to properly secure that drink in the carrier.
Garcia suffered third-degree burns to his penis, groin and inner thighs.
Rowley’s firm said Garcia had two skin grafts to his penis at Grossman Burn Center and that any friction to the area causes Garcia pain.
The court case is reminiscent of the infamous McDonald’s coffee lawsuit. In 1992, 79-year-old Stella Liebeck suffered third-degree burns after a McDonald’s coffee spilled in her lap at a drive-thru in New Mexico.
Liebeck’s case is sometimes criticized as a frivolous lawsuit, but evidence at trial showed that McDonald’s coffee was significantly hotter than that of other restaurants. According to the American Museum of Tort Law, at least 700 other people had been burned before by McDonald’s coffee, yet the company hadn’t changed it’s policy of keeping its coffee between 180 and 190 degrees.
The 79-year-old initially asked McDonald’s to pay her medical bills and only filed suit after the company refused, according to the Journal of Consumer & Commercial Law.
She was initially awarded $2.7 million in punitive damages but a judge reduced the jury’s verdict. Liebeck and McDonald’s settled for an undisclosed amount.
