• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

Man suing Starbucks for $750,000 over coffee burns

Status
Not open for further replies.
I dunno about you but when I order something based on BOILING WATER like Tea or Coffee I expect it to be around 90-100°C, just like I expect a new Knife to be sharp.

Then you expect a cup of coffee which will give you severe scalding in your mouth.

Coffee (and other hot drinks) is usually served at around 75-80 degrees C. The water loses about 20 degrees from initial prep to serving.
 
Is there even a way to reliably do that though? I don't drink coffee that much, is there a way to see how hot coffee was being brewed weeks after the coffee was brewed in the first place?

In most food service establishments, devices which are intentionally kept at a certain temperature (freezers, fridges, brewers) are temperature-checked daily and logs are kept.
 
I dunno about you but when I order something based on BOILING WATER like Tea or Coffee I expect it to be around 90-100°C, just like I expect a new Knife to be sharp.

What type of barbarian are you that you use boiling water to brew coffee?
 
Jackie Chiles is on the case!
IRIdwGs.jpg

I wonder if the guy suing has put a balm on?
 
Whenever I hear such a story, I wonder if anyone has ever sued GAF after reading a post.
 
Then you expect a cup of coffee which will give you severe scalding in your mouth.

Coffee (and other hot drinks) is usually served at around 75-80 degrees C. The water loses about 20 degrees from initial prep to serving.

I feel like most of the coffee I get is hot enough to severely scald my mouth. I don't even try to drink it for a while after buying it.
 
Pretty sure at most Starbucks locations (at least in my experience), you are handed hot drinks without a lid, and you put on your own lid.

As far as the temperature goes - it's hot coffee. Typically, coffee tastes best when it is hot and I am sure this is a tough balance for Starbucks as there are probably customers who complain that the coffee isn't hot enough.

Sounds like this an issue of mental health more than coffee though.
 
I feel like most of the coffee I get is hot enough to severely scald my mouth. I don't even try to drink it for a while after buying it.

Anything over 80 will feel like it might burn / scald your mouth. 90-100 guy up there is out to lunch.

As far as the temperature goes - it's hot coffee. Typically, coffee tastes best when it is hot and I am sure this is a tough balance for Starbucks as there are probably customers who complain that the coffee isn't hot enough.

And this is why Starbucks offers an "extra hot" option, though I always think people are idiots for getting it.
 
Pretty sure at most Starbucks locations (at least in my experience), you are handed hot drinks without a lid, and you put on your own lid.

As far as the temperature goes - it's hot coffee. Typically, coffee tastes best when it is hot and I am sure this is a tough balance for Starbucks as there are probably customers who complain that the coffee isn't hot enough.

Sounds like this an issue of mental health more than coffee though.

I've never seen a coffee handed without a lid at star bucks. That would be weird. I guess us NYC'ers are coddled!
 
Pretty sure at most Starbucks locations (at least in my experience), you are handed hot drinks without a lid, and you put on your own lid.

As far as the temperature goes - it's hot coffee. Typically, coffee tastes best when it is hot and I am sure this is a tough balance for Starbucks as there are probably customers who complain that the coffee isn't hot enough.

Sounds like this an issue of mental health more than coffee though.
I have never seen a drink at Starbucks handed without a lid, for the exact reason that they don't want to spill it on you.
 
This is...I dont even...what? If he is a Starbucks regular, you know you have to let that shit cool before even thinking about consuming it. This happened to me at the cafe in a hospital at the cappuccino machine and it was my own dumbass fault for squeezing the cup too hard so he probably did the same. OR he pressed the lid on too hard at the station.
 
The case isn't about it being hot, its about the cup breaking. Having a "warning: hot" on the cup doesn't protect from the cup breaking unexpectedly, assuming the cup was indeed faulty.



That is speaking of the chrones disease and surgery needed that allegedly resulted from the spilt coffee.

Probably all fabricated though.

Assuming it isn't fabricated and there was negligence or some other tort, tort law has a concept called the "eggshell plaintiff." Basically, you don't choose your plaintiff. If they have some condition that is unknown to you that causes your negligence to affect them more than the average person (like if you bump into someone with brittle bones and they shatter), you have responsibility for those damages.
 
If I spilled hot coffee on myself I'd be thinking "Wow, that was stupid of me, I'll be more careful in the future"
I wouldn't try and sue the person who gave me the coffee, that's stupid. The burn doesn't even look that bad.

The cups have warnings on them for a reason.
 
That burn doesn't look that bad. I worked at various restaurants for about seven years, and burned myself plenty of times. It blisters, eventually pops, and heals. Suck it up, Mr. I Didn't Know Coffee Was Hot.
 
Whenever I hear such a story, I wonder if anyone has ever sued GAF after reading a post.

You made me think about something which caused my brain to hurt and thus I am now suing you for a total of 4 million dollars.

/s


Anyway, this guy is a cop who is supposed to face dangerous criminals but he can't handle a cup of coffee. Okay then.
 
I saw a documentary on Netflix (that I can't remember the name of) about tort reform in the US. People laughed about that McDonald's case and thought it was just some old woman with a stupid, frivolous lawsuit... until they saw her injuries. Really horrific stuff.
 
... sort of a tangential observation, but why does the article go out of its way to point out this man is a police officer? Don't these types of stories typically describe only the relevant parties' names, sex, and maybe age?
 
starbucks could very well be liable even with a "hot liquid" warning on the cup. a warning doesn't give them the ability to serve people with what looks like boiling hot coffee (looking at his burns). be realistic. what if someone knocked the cup into a child's lap or something? "oh well the cup said hot on it people should have been handling it with tongs and a hazmat suit." give me a break

and citing the mcdonalds case even though it was completely horrific. tons of people mocked the women before realizing how hot the coffee was. even then some still roll their eyes at her suing them.

i will agree the amount is ridiculous. but in cases like this, the large amount of money sought is partly to actually get the company to change a policy etc. starbucks paying a dude $25,000 for making his skin blister with burns from coffee and they wouldn't even bat an eye (they still probably wouldn't with $750,000)

Claiming burns is one thing. A stupid thing, but one nevertheless. His argument goes way off into frivolous bullshit when he starts claiming that his Crohn's flared up solely due to the trauma of having some coffee spilled on himself. Next he's going to claim that his poor little burns gave him horrible PTSD and crippling depression.

i agree with this. ridiculous.
 
I hope this man can find it in himself to recover his leadership abilities after having them brutally melted away by this magma-hot coffee.


Godspeed, Officer!
 
a lot of people in here with no idea what they're talking about. starbucks could very well be liable even with a "hot liquid" warning on the cup. a warning doesn't give them the ability to serve people with what looks like boiling hot coffee (looking at his burns). be realistic. what if someone knocked the cup into a child's lap or something? "oh well the cup said hot on it people should have been handling it with tongs and a hazmat suit." give me a break

and citing the mcdonalds case even though it was completely horrific. tons of people mocked the women before realizing how hot the coffee was. even then some still roll their eyes at her suing them.

He's got burns for sure but nothing that would be unusual when given freshly made hot coffee. McDonalds coffee incident was serious, the injuries sustained were ridiculous and they had been previously warned about the extreme temperature of the coffee.

Not to mention that Starbucks always gives you a lid, and the extra sleeve for hot coffee. Unless you drop that from a pretty high point, chances are it won't spill all over the place.
 
He lost confidence as a leader?!

He shouldn't hold the cup on the top edge of the cup either which might cause the cup to collapse on itself. Has happened to me with soda before.
 
I expect coffee or tea to be brewed at 200F but not served. 80-120 is what it should be served at.

Heh, at that temp I would stick it in the microwave for a minute.
Cold tea is horrible, coffee less so but still better hot.
 
Even if the injuries are serious and the coffee is served boiling hot, I can't think of a scenario where you could get a penny in continental Europe. I think this is where some of the replies in the thread come from making fun of the McDonald's case.

edit: Unless the cup is faulty of course and causes the burns without any wrongdoing of your own
 
He's got burns for sure but nothing that would be unusual when given freshly made hot coffee. McDonalds coffee incident was serious, the injuries sustained were ridiculous and they had been previously warned about the extreme temperature of the coffee.

Not to mention that Starbucks always gives you a lid, and the extra sleeve for hot coffee. Unless you drop that from a pretty high point, chances are it won't spill all over the place.

i think many are conflating the temperature at which coffee is brewed and temperature at which it should be served. i've ordered coffee from starbucks and coffee shops and taken light careful sips within a minute of being served. i guess if i burn my lips next time to the point of getting blisters it's my fault? or if i stick my finger in it to test it and get moderately burned? i'm under the impression that it would be served to me at a drinkable temperature (although hot of course) and thankfully every coffee experience i've had would attest to that
 
Actually it wasn't. It was an SELF INTRODUCED accident. Yes the damage was real and it was rather unfortunate, but that's like suing a knife maker because you cut myself.

Why was the coffee served THAT hot to cause such severe burns?
 
Starbucks control the temperature of the milk - I can see a new employee fucking up and frothing that shit up hotter than the sun.
 
Why was the coffee served THAT hot to cause such severe burns?

I think this is really fascinating on another level. Americans often chuckle about the EU-"Nannystate" regarding consumer laws, but on the other hand you get coffee that is too hot and "professional driver do not attempt" in car commercials.
 
I think this is really fascinating on another level. Americans often chuckle about the EU-"Nannystate" regarding consumer laws, but on the other hand you get coffee that is too hot and "professional driver do not attempt" in car commercials.

Red Bull Gives You Wings*

*Well, actually it helps to temporarily restore mental alertness and wakefullness from experiencing fatigue or drowsiness.

Canadian Red Bull commercials actually end like this. Seriously.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom