A Los Angeles man was awarded $50 million from a jury on Friday in his case against Starbucks after he suffered life-altering burns when a cup of scalding hot tea spilled into his lap in 2020.
It happened at an Exposition Park location, where Michael Garcia was awaiting a delivery. When the barista handed him a tray full of drinks, at least one overturned. His noticeable reaction can be seen in security camera footage from inside the Starbucks.
“Starbucks says if our hands are off the drink, then no matter what happens, we’re not responsible,” said Garcia’s trial attorney Nicholas Rowley. “So, if I’m Starbucks and I hand you a drink that doesn’t have a lid that’s secured, and it’s a scalding hot 180 degree drink, or if I hand you a drink that’s in a container and it’s loose and it’s not secured, and it falls right on you — the moment that I take my hands off of it, then you’re responsible and I, the corporation, am not.”
The spill left Garcia was life-changing injuries. He suffered third degree burns, nerve damage and permanent injury to his genitals. Lawyers say that he’s already had multiple surgeries and that he still experiences pain every day. On top of this, they say that he suffers from severe PTSD.
Jurors deliberated for just about 40 minutes on Friday before siding with Garcia, awarding him $50 million in damages from the world famous coffee chain.
“It’s a reasonable verdict. It’s justified. This injury changed Michael’s life, it was gross negligence,” Rowley said.
In response to the verdict, a Starbucks spokesperson shared a statement with CBS News Los Angeles.
“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,” the statement said. “We plan to appeal. We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
Rowley says no amount of money could make right what happened to Garcia.
Starbucks had initially offered $3 million to Garcia pre-trial, later upping that amount to $30 million to settle. Garcia agreed, but under the condition that they apologize, change their policies and issue a memo to all store locations to double-check their hot drinks before handing them to customers, attorneys said.
When they declined to agree to those terms, the jury eventually decided to award Garcia with Friday’s total.
