Starbucks was ordered by a Los Angeles County jury on Friday to pay $50 million to a delivery driver who suffered severe burns after a hot drink spilled on him in a drive-thru in 2020.
According to The Daily Journal, Michael Garcia sued Starbucks after a hot drink he picked up from the company’s drive-thru fell out of a cardboard takeout tray and spilled on his lap, resulting in “severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.” The Associated Press reported that Garcia had to go through skin grafts and other medical procedures to treat the injuries caused by the Starbucks incident.
The Daily Journal reported that Garcia’s lawsuit accused a Starbucks employee of improperly securing the hot drink in the cardboard carrier.
The lawsuit stated, “Said failure to properly secure a hot drink in its carrier created a foreseeable danger than an unbalanced and unsecured cup of hot liquid would spill upon handing it to the customer such as Plaintiff. No reasonable expectation of an unsecure cup can be attributed to plaintiff’s conduct.”
Nicholas Rowley, Garcia’s attorney, told The Associated Press that Friday’s jury verdict was a “critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility.”
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Rowley also released a statement to The Daily Journal, saying, “Starbucks frivolously denied liability and lost big. Justice was served. Three jurors dissented and were crying because they wanted the verdict to be $125 million. God bless them and every other person that served on the jury.”
Following the jury’s decision to force Starbucks to pay Garcia $50 million in compensation for the 2020 drive-thru incident, Starbucks Director of Corporate Communications Jaci Anderson explained that while the company does “sympathize” with the plaintiff, Starbucks disagrees “with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive.”
“We plan to appeal,” Anderson stated. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
According to The Daily Journal, Starbucks previously claimed that Garcia “failed to exercise ordinary care on his own behalf” during the drive-thru incident.
The Daily Journal reported that Starbucks offered Garcia $3 million prior to the start of the trial and later offered Garcia a $30 million settlement. Rowley told the outlet that Garcia agreed to settle the lawsuit for $30 million if Starbucks issued the delivery driver an apology and revised its safety protocols; however, Starbucks reportedly refused the conditions.