A jury in Florida has found Starbucks at fault for serving hot coffee in cups with faulty lids, according to a release from the plaintiff’s legal firm, Morgan & Morgan.
The suit centered around a Florida resident who ordered coffee at a Starbucks drive-thru in Jacksonville in 2014. When she received the order — a 20-ounce Venti Pike Place roast — through her drivers’ side window, the coffee cup lid popped off. The 190-degree liquid spilled all over her lap, giving her first- and second-degree burns.
The case was filed in 2015. According to the release, during the trial this year “a Starbucks representative testified that the company gets 80 complaints a month about lid leaks and lids popping off.” Starbucks’ attorneys argued that it “would not be relevant” to warn customers of the risk.
The jury awarded the plaintiff $100,000, $85,000 for pain and suffering and about $15,000 for medical bills.
In a statement to Eater, Starbucks says they are considering an appeal, and “we stand behind our store partners (employees) in this case and maintain that they did nothing wrong.”
This isn’t the first hot coffee lawsuit Starbucks has faced, but it appears to be the first one it has lost. In a similar case from 2016, a Houston woman was given her Starbucks coffee order via a drive-thru window. When it spilled all over her lap she sued the company for “past and future pain,” among other mental and physical injuries. In another case, a Starbucks customer claimed a barista actually spilled the hot coffee on him. Most of these cases are settled, dismissed, or the court has sided with Starbucks, and the corporation’s inability to control for user error or accidents.
Hot coffee lawsuits have popped up periodically in court ever since Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants, better known as the McDonald’s hot coffee lawsuit of 1994. That’s when a jury awarded the plaintiff $2.86 million for burns she received when she accidentally spilled McDonald’s hot coffee in her lap.
• Morgan & Morgan Secures $100K Verdict for Florida Woman Burned by Hot Starbucks Coffee [Release]
• All Starbucks Coverage [E]