Starbucks has been ordered to pay $100,000 to a woman who was severely injured when a lid came off her coffee and gave her first and second-degree burns.
Joanne Mogavero, 43, was left with permanent scarring after a 190-degree Venti size coffee spilt in her lap at the drive-thru of a Jacksonville Starbucks (SBUX), said a statement from Morgan & Morgan, the attorneys who represented her.
According to Morgan & Morgan, the jury decided to award Mogavero “$85,000 for pain and suffering, physical impairment, disfigurement, inconvenience, and loss of capacity for enjoyment of life, and about $15,000 for the medical bills she had in connection with her life-altering injury.”
The statement adds that even though Starbucks receives around 80 complaints a month about lid leaks and lids popping off, as an employee testified, the coffee giant thought it would not be relevant to warn customers of the risk.
“My client didn’t want sympathy from the jury—she wanted justice—and the jury gave it to her with its verdict,” Mogavero’s lawyer, Steve Earle said. “It was good to see a just result.”
A spokesperson for Starbucks told Coins2Day that the company is standing behind its employees in this case and “maintain[ing] they did nothing wrong.” The coffee chain is also considering an appeal.