Starbucks Ordered To Pay Man $50 Million After His Junk Was Burned & Permanently Damaged By Hot Tea Spill

Of all the ways to earn $50 million, taking a cup of hot tea to the junk has to be near the bottom of the list. A Los Angeles delivery driver knows this better than most.

On Friday, a jury awarded Michael Garcia $50 million in a case against Starbucks after his genitals were severely burned by a cup of hot tea that spilled into his lap.

A California man was awarded $50 million by jury after suing Starbucks for injuries to his genitals suffered with hot tea spilled onto his lap. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)

Garcia, a Postmates delivery driver, was picking up a customer's order on Feb. 8, 2020, at a California drive-through. One of the three venti-sized hot teas wasn’t secured properly in the to-go carrier, according to the lawsuit.

The unsecured cup of hot tea fell, reports KCAL News, onto his lap within just 1.4 seconds of being handed to the carrier. He was left with third-degree burns to his junk. His lawyers report that he suffered life-changing injuries.

On top of the third-degree burns, Garcia is said to have suffered nerve damage and permanent injury to his genitals. And as if that wasn’t enough, he also suffers from severe PTSD from the incident.

"Michael Garcia's life has been forever changed," Nick Rowley, Garcia's attorney, said in a statement after the verdict.

"No amount of money can undo the permanent catastrophic harm he has suffered, but this jury verdict is a critical step in holding Starbucks accountable for flagrant disregard for customer safety and failure to accept responsibility." 

Starbucks disagrees with paying the man $50 million for injuries to his junk and plans to appeal

Starbucks has a different view of the jury's verdict. In short, it doesn’t agree and plans to appeal, although it does sympathize with his life-altering injuries to his genitals.

"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," Starbucks' statement said.

"We plan to appeal. We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks."

There is surveillance video of the incident. It shows Garcia being handed the drink carrier, the hot tea spilling in his lap, and him reacting to the pain of the tea to the junk.

It does not look like a pleasant experience to say the least. If he did indeed suffer the type of damage he claims in the lawsuit, then he deserves every penny of the $50 million.

Whether he sees all of it or not is yet to be seen. Starbucks will appeal and if we've learned anything over the years from lawsuits involving hot drink burns from restaurants, it's that the final numbers can be quite different when all is said and done.

Best of luck to Michael Garcia. Walking into a store and buying a lottery ticket is a much better way of potentially adding $50 million to the bank account. For starters, there are no third-degree burns or permanent damage to any part of your body involved.