Starbucks customer is awarded $100K for burns from hot coffee spill
Jurors in Jacksonville, Florida, last week awarded $100,000 to a woman who said she was severely burned when the lid popped off a cup of Starbucks coffee she received at a drive-through window.
Jurors found Starbucks was 80 percent at fault for the 2014 coffee spill that left Joanne Mogavero with first- and second-degree burns, report the Wall Street Journal Law Blog and the Florida Times-Union. Mogavero was represented by lawyer Steven Earle of Morgan & Morgan, which issued a press release on the verdict.
The suit had contended that the lids on Starbucks cups are prone to pop off when someone grabs the cup too high, Earle told the Times-Union. Earle said Starbucks had acknowledged that the company gets about 80 complaints a month about leaks and lids popping off.
“Our hope with this is to raise people’s awareness that this is a real danger,” he told the Times-Union.
Starbucks issued a statement saying it maintains its store employees did nothing wrong and is considering an appeal.
