Starbucks Loses Appeal In $50M Penis Burn Award

Courthouse News reports:

A Los Angeles judge rejected on Wednesday a motion by Starbucks to reduce or invalidate a $50 million jury award leveled at the coffee giant earlier this year over a spilled cup of tea that left a Postmates driver’s penis scalded and permanently disfigured.

In 2020, then-25-year-old Garcia was picking up an order of three venti-sized “medicine balls” — secret menu items made from a mix of steamed lemonade and two different teas — from a drive-thru Starbucks window in South LA. One of the drinks, he said, was “negligently” unsecured in its cardboard drink carrier, causing it to spill in his lap after he brought it inside his car.

Garcia said he “suffered severe burns, disfigurement and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals” as a result of the spill. The injury left his penis permanently discolored and disfigured, and he says that both sex and masturbation are painful experiences.

Read the full article.

Starbucks can’t dodge $50M verdict for spilled tea that burned Postmates driver’s penis www.courthousenews.com/starbucks-ca…

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— Courthouse News (@courthousenews.bsky.social) June 4, 2025 at 4:06 PM