Jury awards man $50 million in Starbucks hot tea spill

Starbucks will have to fork over $50 million to a man whose genitals were severely burned after a hot tea spilled in his lap at a California drive-through. 

Delivery driver Michael Garcia underwent skin grafts and other procedures after the fateful spill of the piping hot, venti-sized Starbucks beverage, which immediately fell onto his crotch area after he bought it on Feb. 8, 2020. 

The resulting injuries were permanent and life changing, his attorneys said.

Garcia sued Starbucks and on Friday, a Los Angeles County jury decided in his favor, finding an employee of the Seattle-based coffee chain had not wedged the scalding hot drink into a takeout tray well enough before handing it over to him.

“This jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” Garcia’s attorney, Nick Rowley, wrote in a statement following the verdict. 

Starbucks was less cool about it.

“We disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” a company spokesperson wrote in a statement. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.” 

The case’s outcome recalled a 1990s lawsuit against McDonald’s, in which a New Mexico woman, Stella Liebeck, was initially awarded nearly $3 million in damages after suffering third-degree burns from a coffee spilling in her lap. 

In that case, the trial judge later reduced the punitive damages to $480,000 and compensatory damages to $160,000, according to court records.

In July of 2023, a South Florida jury awarded $800,000 in damages to the family of then-4-year-old Olivia Caraballo for the second-degree burns she suffered when a hot Happy Meal Chicken McNugget fell in her lap in 2019.

With Post Wires.