New York Woman Sues Starbucks Over Tea That Was ‘Too Hot’
US coffee giants Starbucks are facing a lawsuit from an American woman over claims she suffered second degree burns after being served tea that was too hot. She had been served the tea which was “unreasonably hot, in containers which were not safe” in a Manhattan branch of the chain.
She aims to sue the corporation for unspecified damages after it is claimed she suffered “great physical and mental anguish” which included the burns. Zeynap Inanli, of New York, is said to have not been able to observe warnings on the container of the drink due to her lacking skills in English.
Starbucks, who are no strangers to this kind of allegation, refused to comment. The cups in question have two warning signs on the sides and a third on the lid along with design measures to ensure any hot liquid cannot spill out accidentally.
The debacle is familiar as in 1994 a jury ruled that McDonald’s pay nearly $3m to an Albuquerque woman who claimed she had burnt herself with the restaurant’s coffee. The parties settled out of court but it opened the floodgates to those looking to seek compensation against large corporations for hot drinks accidents.
The case is the third major legal fiasco facing Starbucks in the last year and could do further harm to their reputation. Singer-songwriter Carly Simon, who signed to Starbucks own record label, failed to sell many records and she attempted to sue Starbucks for ‘loss of earnings’ claiming her album was not even promoted, the case was thrown out of court.
In February of this year, Starbucks battled a case to ban gun carriers in Denver to openly carry firearms in their coffee shops. Although Colorado law states that civilians can openly carry firearms with a licence, many city centre business forbid the carrying of weapons indoors. Starbucks made the decision to allow their customers to observe the 2nd amendment but risked losing the faith of at least on side of the argument. Starbucks claimed they were trying to cater for customers while observing local law but it has dragged them into the centre of a dispute between gun control activists and gun advocates.
Starbucks have consulted health and safety experts in order to prevent liability over their printed paper cups and paper cup lids and their warnings are written in several languages and shown in a visual form, legal experts suspect the case will be thrown out of court.