Companies and Brands

Starbucks Told To Pay Drive-Through Customer $50 Million

Douglas A. McIntyre

Published: March 15, 2025 9:10 am

A man takes his car through a Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) drive-through in Los Angeles. He gets the coffee he has ordered, but the lid on one drink is not closed correctly. The coffee in the cup spills on him, and he is badly burnt and injured. A California jury awards him $50 million. (As an aside, Starbucks needs to be more careful when serving drinks to drivers through its windows, which it does at the very least, tens of thousands of times a day.)

This case was brought before a jury in California. The injured man’s attorney claimed that he “suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals when hot drinks ultimately spilled.” In specific, the customer ordered three drinks, one of which had the lid improperly affixed.  His attorney added, “Michael Garcia’s life has been forever changed. No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered. Still, this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility,” the court filing said.

The jury’s decision was rendered in California Superior Court. Afterward, Starbucks stated, “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 coffee chain will appeal. Starbucks clearly believes it can make the case that the damages are inappropriately large.

Starbucks has 16,969 stores in the US, but the company does not disclose how many have drive-throughs. If the customer accident case brought in California were applied to every Starbucks in the US, the company would be exposed to billions of dollars of damage. All the more reason for Starbucks to hope for positive results from an appeal of the current case.