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Woman Gets $100,000 Settlement From Starbucks Coffee Personal Injury Lawsuit
A Florida woman from Duval County (Jacksonville), Florida was recently awarded $100,000 dollars for her injuries. She was burned by a cup of Starbucks Coffee. Joanne Mogavero, the plaintiff won the lawsuit after the jury found Starbucks negligent for the coffee cup lid popping off, making her drink spill onto her lap. The drink was scalding hot.
When Mogavero ordered the Venti-sized coffee in the drive-thru, the lid popped off and was “not adequately fastened” as the barista handed it to her. The coffee was about 190 degrees Fahrenheit. Mogavero suffered permanent scarring and second-degree burns.
Mogavero’s lawyers pointed out that Starbucks should warn their customers that lids could possibly pop off before handing it over. Starbucks has stated, “As we said in trial, we stand behind our store partners (employees) in this case and maintain that they did nothing wrong.”
Besides the $ 15,492.14 for her medical bills, she also received $85,000 for additional pain and suffering.
This isn’t the first time a coffee chain has been under fire for spilled hot coffee. Watch the story about the McDonald’s case here. In another case, a woman was walking to her car from a Dunkin’ Donuts, when she tripped over a metal spike in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot and spilled hot coffee all over herself as well as injuring her hands, knees, and back. Her case settled before going to trial for over $522,000.