An Indiana couple has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks, alleging the company was negligent when it served them a hot chocolate that burned their young daughter.
The lawsuit claims Rachel Brennan was severely burned two years ago when the drink spilled on her lap.
The girl's parents, Michael and Alexis Brennan, said Starbucks erroneously served their daughter an adult hot chocolate instead of a child's hot chocolate, which was supposed to be prepared at a lower temperature.
The lawsuit says the girl's mother pulled into a Starbucks drive-through on Nov. 2, 2004, and ordered an adult hot chocolate for herself and a child's hot chocolate for her daughter, who was sitting in a child's restraint seat in the back of the car.
Brennan claims her daughter -- whose age was not mentioned in the suit -- spilled the drink on her lap, resulting in such severe burns that the "skin on her leg was falling off of her."
"Starbucks Corporation takes seriously its obligation to provide a safe product to all our customers and we are truly sympathetic to the Brennan incident that resulted in injuries to this customer's child," wrote Starbucks spokesman Sanja Gould. "While Starbucks regrets this incident, we believe our store partners prepared and served the drink properly and that we are not responsible for the injuries."
Gould confirmed that Starbucks has a policy of serving children's hot beverages at lower temperatures than adult beverages to prevent children from getting burned.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages from Starbucks.
Everyone is so sue happy these days. I'm tired of it. Like you said, Hot is the key word in hot chocolate. Who are these judges that award these money grubbers with settlements? Ugh.
ReplyDeleteThere are guidelines by the FDA for temaptures beverages should be served at. However, if your child is sitting in a car seat, they are probably too young to be drinking hot cholcolate unsupervised in a moving car.
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