A Los Angeles Superior Court jury awarded a delivery driver $50 million in damages Friday for severe burns to his genitalia caused by a scalding cup of tea that spilled in the drive-thru of a Starbucks near USC.
According to court records, Postmates driver Michael Garcia suffered life-altering, third-degree burns in the Feb. 8, 2020, incident that was blamed on a barista’s failure to firmly secure the hot tea in a beverage carrier.
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“Starbucks continues to prioritize profit over the health and safety of its customers,” said Nick Rowley, who is Garcia’s attorney and co-founder of Trial Lawyers for Justice. “Despite being repeatedly warned about the dangers of improperly secured drinks, they chose to ignore safety.”
Starbucks said in a statement Friday. March 14, that it will appeal the verdict.
“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,” said Jaci Anderson, a Starbucks spokesperson. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
Garcia, who lives in Los Angeles, entered the Starbucks drive-thru at the corner of Jefferson Boulevard and Western Avenue and ordered three venti-size “medicine ball” hot teas and proceeded to the pickup window. A barista working the window negligently failed to properly “seat” one of the drinks, which was more than 180 degrees Fahrenheit, into the drink carrier, according to Garcia’s attorneys.
Less than two seconds later, after Garcia took possession of the tray, the unsecured cup fell directly into his lap, the lid popped off and the scalding hot tea caused third-degree burns to his penis, groin and inner thighs. He was taken by paramedics to an emergency room.
Experts testified in court that Garcia could not have done anything to avoid his injuries, his attorneys said.
Garcia underwent treatment at Grossman Burn Center in Los Angeles, where doctors performed two skin grafts on his penis, first with cadaver skin, and removed the nerves in his penis. The doctors then applied pig skin to save Garcia’s penis, which is permanently disfigured and discolored.
“Michael Garcia’s life has been forever changed. 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’ pretrial offer to settle case was $3 million, Garcia’s attorneys said. Later, Starbucks offered $30 million to settle the matter. Garcia agreed to the settlement under the condition that Starbucks apologize, change policies and issue a memo to all Starbucks restaurants to double-check hot drinks before handing them to customers.
However, Starbucks declined to agree to those terms.
