A jury has ordered coffee maker Starbucks to pay a Florida woman $100,000, about N30million, because she was burned by a cup of hot coffee.
After arriving at the drive-thru window of a Jacksonville Starbucks, Joanne Mogavero passed a ‘venti’-sized coffee to her passenger when the lid popped off and the 190-degree beverage spilled onto her stomach. She received first- and second-degree burns.
At trial, jurors heard testimony from a Starbucks employee who said the company gets about 80 complaints per month about lids falling off and spilled beverages. The worker said the company has not changed the cup design or warned people about the possibility the lid can come off unexpectedly.
The jury’s award gives $15,000 to Mogavero, 43, for medical bills and $85,000 for pain and suffering.
“My client didn’t want sympathy from the jury — she wanted justice,” Mogavero’s lawyer, Steve Earle, said. “And the jury gave it to her.”
A Starbucks representative told Fortune magazine that the company believes its employees did nothing wrong, and are considering an appeal.
