Starbucks facing lawsuits for faulty lids that cause burns

A South Los Angeles woman joins a multitude of lawsuits and complaints against Starbucks, by suing Starbucks for negligence, alleging she was scalded at a drive-through window in Lynwood.

Muriel Evans filed a complaint Wednesday with the Los Angeles County Superior Court in Compton. She alleges that a faulty coffee cup lid and the excessive heat from her beverage led to severe burns after a barista spilled coffee into her lap.

Evans is asking for general and special damages, including her medical, hospital and incidental expenses, and punitive damages to “set an example” of Starbucks. She alleges the corporation is indifferent “to the obviously dangerous mixture of excessively hot temperatures combined with defective lids.”

Evans pulled into the Starbucks drive-through on Aug. 25, 2022, and ordered a coffee, according to the lawsuit.

A Starbucks employee then “mishandled” the coffee and spilled it onto Evans’ lap, with the hot liquid rolling down her left leg, according to the lawsuit.

Evans said she suffered severe burns to her body along with nerve damage and disfigurement.

Evans’ legal team believes the coffee’s temperature was 190 degrees, just a little less than boiling.

Previous Starbucks guides have listed most hot beverages at between 150 and 170 degrees.

Water heated to 120 degrees takes five to 10 minutes to cause a third-degree burn; at 131 degrees, it’s 10 to 30 seconds; and at 140 degrees, it’s two to five seconds, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information.

As for the lids, there have been various media articles and threads and videos complaining about Starbucks’ lids and their ease in falling off, including on Reddit and TikTok.

Starbucks is facing similar lid lawsuits.