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Starbucks ordered to pay $50 million to delivery driver burned by hot beverage(Fri March 14, 2025)

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/14/business/starbucks-hot-coffee-driver-verdict/index.html

• A jury in California on Friday **ordered Starbucks to pay $50 million in damages to a delivery driver who was severely burned by an improperly secured lid on hot beverages.
• Michael Garcia was picking up drinks at a drive-through in Los Angeles when he “suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals when hot drinks ultimately spilled” onto his lap, according to the lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in 2020.
  • disfigurement → 신체 변형 (화상 등으로 인한 외형적 손상)
• The lawsuit accused Starbucks of breaching its duty of care by failing to secure the lid.
  • breach: 위반하다, 위반
• Michael Parker, Garcia’s lawyer, said his client was picking up three beverages and one of the hot drinks wasn’t fully pushed into the container. When the barista handed Garcia the order, a drink fell out of the container and onto Garcia, Parker said.
• Garcia’s damages included physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, inconvenience, grief, disfigurement, physical impairment, anxiety and emotional distress, according to a recording of the verdict from Courtroom View Network.
  • grief: 비탄, 큰 슬픔
• Starbucks said it plans to appeal ****the verdict.
  • appeal: 항소/상고, 항소/상고하다,
  • verdict: 판결
• “We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”
• The lawsuit is reminiscent of a famous 1994 lawsuit against McDonald’s in which a woman spilled hot coffee on her lap and suffered third-degree burns. The plaintiff in that case, Stella Liebeck, was originally awarded nearly $3 million.
  • reminiscent of → ~을 떠올리게 하는
    • bring to mind
  • plaintiff → 원고

💡[요약]

• 캘리포니아의 한 스타벅스에서 드라이브 스루를 통해 음료를 픽업하다 뜨거운 음료가 원고에게 쏟아져 화상을 입음
• 이에 원고는 스타벅스의 주의 의무 위반을 이유로 고소
• 배심원단은 5,000만 달러 배상 판결
• 스타벅스는 이에 과도한 배상이라며 항소 의사를 밝힘