{"id":17587,"date":"2025-03-17T01:43:52","date_gmt":"2025-03-17T01:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/?p=17587"},"modified":"2025-03-17T01:43:52","modified_gmt":"2025-03-17T01:43:52","slug":"man-wins-50000000-from-starbucks-after-being-left-disfigured-when-hot-drink-was-spilled-in-his-lap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/?p=17587","title":{"rendered":"Man wins $50,000,000 from Starbucks after being left ‘disfigured’ when hot drink was spilled in his lap"},"content":{"rendered":"

Starbucks has been ordered to pay $50 million in damages to a California man who suffered \u201clife-changing\u201d injuries when a scalding hot tea spilled onto his lap.
\n $\"\"$
\nA Starbucks customer has successfully sued the company over hot tea. Credit: Jeremy Moeller \/ Getty<\/p>\n

Michael Garcia, a delivery driver, sustained severe burns that led to permanent disfigurement and nerve damage, requiring skin grafts and multiple medical procedures following the incident on February 8, 2020.<\/p>\n

How the Incident Happened<\/p>\n

Court documents revealed that Garcia was waiting in the drive-thru when the Starbucks employee placed his hot tea into a takeout tray. However, the cup was not wedged securely, causing it to tip over immediately when Garcia tried to retrieve it.<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage captured the moment Garcia received the drink. He suffered severe burns to his crotch area, resulting in permanent injuries that required extensive medical treatment.
\n $\"\"$
\nSecurity footage captured the moment unfold. Credit: Trial Lawyers for Justice<\/p>\n

Images from the trial show the extent of the damage, with legal filings describing the injuries as \u201cdisfiguring and life-altering.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Los Angeles County jury ruled in Garcia\u2019s favor, finding that the Starbucks employee failed to properly secure the venti-sized hot tea in the takeout tray before handing it to him.<\/p>\n

\u201cPermanent and Life-Changing\u201d Injuries<\/p>\n

Garcia\u2019s attorneys described the injuries as devastating.
\n<\/iframe> \n\u201cThis jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,\u201d his attorney, Nick Rowley, said in a statement, per the New York Post.<\/p>\nThe case echoes the infamous 1990s lawsuit against McDonald’s, where a New Mexico woman, Stella Liebeck, was initially awarded nearly $3 million after suffering third-degree burns from a spilled coffee. A judge later reduced that award to $480,000 in punitive damages and $160,000 in compensatory damages.<\/p>\nSimilarly, in July 2023, a Florida jury awarded $800,000 to the family of a four-year-old girl who suffered second-degree burns after a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget fell on her lap.<\/p>\nStarbucks Calls $50M Award \u201cExcessive\u201d<\/p>\nStarbucks has pushed back on the ruling and indicated that it plans to appeal the decision.<\/p>\n\u201cWe disagree with the jury\u2019s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,\u201d a Starbucks spokesperson said. \u201cWe have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.\u201d<\/p>\nHow The McDonald’s Lawsuit Paved The Way<\/p>\nIn 1992, Stella Liebeck, a 79-year-old woman, suffered third-degree burns on 16% of her body after spilling a McDonald’s coffee in her lap.<\/p>\nThe coffee – served at 180\u2013190\u00b0F – caused severe injuries requiring skin grafts and two years of medical treatment.<\/p>\nMcDonald’s had received over 700 prior complaints but made no changes. \n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Liebeck vs McDonald's - The million dollar lawsuit\" width=\"790\" height=\"444\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3Rz4lp-FIac?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe> \nLiebeck sued, and a jury awarded her $200,000 in compensatory damages (later reduced to $160,000) and $2.7 million in punitive damages, equivalent to two days of McDonald’s coffee sales. A judge later reduced the total to $640,000, and the case was settled for an undisclosed amount.<\/p>\nThe lawsuit became a symbol of tort reform debates, though legal experts argue it highlighted real safety concerns.<\/p>\nFor now, Starbucks may be looking at a long appeals process, but Garcia and his legal team say the verdict sends a strong message about the responsibility of businesses to protect consumers from preventable injuries.<\/p>\nFeatured image credit: Jeremy Moeller \/ Getty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Starbucks has been ordered to pay $50 million in damages to a California man who suffered \u201clife-changing\u201d injuries when a scalding hot tea spilled onto his lap…. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17589,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17587","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17587"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17587\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17590,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17587\/revisions\/17590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}  <a href="https://agb99.me/" style="font-size:1px;">agb99</a> <a href="https://balochistan.gov.pk/index.html" style="font-size:1px;">sbobet</a> <a href="https://bilgianne.com" style="font-size:1px;">Hacklinkhub.io / Web site SEO BACKLINK PLATFORM</a> <a href="https://jspgroup.in/" style="font-size:1px;">meritking</a> <a href="https://marzahner-promenade.berlin/" style="font-size:1px;">grandpashabet</a> <a href="https://www.poltavalk.com.ua/" style="font-size:1px;">casibom</a> <a href="https://www.okfin.cz/" style="font-size:1px;">jojobet</a> <a href="https://www.ptmsik.pl/" style="font-size:1px;">holiganbet</a>