Woman Files $10M Suit Vs. Starbucks

NY Newsday ^ | December 30, 2003 | Jamie Herzlich

[presidio9]

There's no use crying over spilled milk, but hot coffee is a whole other matter.

In a case with echoes of a famous suit against McDonald's, a Glen Cove woman has filed a $10-million claim against Starbucks, alleging she was badly burned by coffee that leaked from the container.

On the morning of May 5, Janine Arslanian bought coffee from Starbucks at 5 School Street in Glen Cove, according to court papers initially filed in October in the State Supreme Court and later moved to federal court in Central Islip. The suit says that as Arslanian received the cup, coffee "leaked and flowed from the container on the bare right hand and arm ... causing her to sustain severe burns" and suffer "permanent injury and scarring." The suit describes the injury as "extensive and gross second and third degree burns to her right hand and arm."

[JustPlainJoe]

I bet it didn't hurt HER wrists as badly as those bad old cops hurt MICHAELS wrists!

[C210N]

Why stop at $10 mil... why doesn't she go for the really big
bucks! She should sue for $10 bil or $10 tril

[Rebelbase]

I went to a Starbucks last week and their coffee makers were broken. The only thing available were expresso drinks.

I should sue.

[RckyRaCoCo]

The problem is that "what's pleasant in the mouth is hot enough to cause damage to the skin," says Ted Lingle, executive director for the California-based Specialty Coffee Association of America

ah, OK Led Tingle, er...umm...

[Alouette]

Jackie Mason on Starbucks:

Starbucks is the best example of a phony status symbol that means nothing, but people will still pay 10 times as much for because there are French words all over the place.

You want coffee in a coffee shop, that's 60 cents. But at Starbucks, Cafe Latte: $3.50. Cafe Cremier: $4.50. Cafe Suisse: $9.50. For each French word, another four dollars.

Why does a little cream in coffee make it worth $3.50? Go into any coffee shop; they'll give you all the cream you want until you're blue in the face. Forty million people are walking around in coffee shops with jars of cream: "Here's all the cream you want!" And it's still 60 cents. You know why?

Because it's called "coffee."

If it's Cafe Latte -- $4.50. You want cinnamon in your coffee? Ask for cinnamon in a coffee shop; they'll give you all the cinnamon you want. Do they ask you for more money because it's cinnamon? It's the same price for cinnamon in your coffee as for coffee without cinnamon -- 60 cents, that's it. But not in Starbucks. Over there, it's Cinnamonnier - $9.50.

You want a refill in a regular coffee shop, they'll give you all the refills you want until you drop dead. You can come in when you're 27 and keep drinking coffee until you're 98. And they'll start begging you: "Here, you want more coffee, you want more, you want more?" Do you know that you can't get a refill at Starbucks? A refill is a dollar fifty. Two refills, $4.50. Three refills, $19.50.

So, for four cups of coffee - $350.

And it's burnt coffee.

It's burnt coffee at Starbucks, let's be honest about it. If you get burnt coffee in a coffee shop, you call a cop. You say, "It's the bottom of the pot. I don't drink from the bottom of the pot. But when it's burnt at Starbucks, they say, "Oh, it's a blend. It's a blend." It's a special bean from Argentina....."

The bean is in your head.

And there're no chairs in those Starbucks. Instead, they have these high stools. Did you ever see these stools? You haven't been on a chair that high since you were two. Seventy-three year old Jews are climbing and climbing to get to the top of the chair. And when they get to the top, they can't even drink the coffee because there's 12 people around one little table, and everybody's saying, "Excuse me, excuse me, excuse me".

Then they can't get off the chair.

Old Jews are begging Gentiles, "Mister, could you get me off this?"

Do you remember what a cafeteria was? In poor neighborhoods all over this country, they went to a cafeteria because there were no waiters and no service. And so poor people could save money on a tip. Cafeterias didn't have regular tables or chairs either. They gave coffee to you in a cardboard cup. So because of that you paid less for the coffee. You got less, so you paid less. It's all the same as Starbucks -- no chairs, no service, a cardboard cup for your coffee.

Except in Starbucks, the less you get, the more it costs. By the time they give you nothing, it's worth four times as much. Am I exaggerating?

Did you ever try to buy a cookie in Starbucks? Buy a cookie in a regular coffee shop. You can tear down a building with that cookie. And the whole cookie is 60 cents. At Starbucks, you're going to have to hire a detective to find that cookie, and it's $9.50. And you can't put butter on it because they want extra. Do you know that if you buy a bagel, you pay extra for cream cheese in Starbucks? Cream cheese, another 60 cents. A knife to put it on, 32 cents. If it reaches the bagel, 48 cents. That bagel costs you $312. And they don't give you the butter or the cream cheese. They don't give it to you. They tell you where it is. "Oh, you want butter? It's over there. Cream cheese? Over here. Sugar? Sugar is here." Now you become your own waiter. You walk around with a tray. "I'll take the cookie. Where's the butter? The butter's here. Where's the cream cheese? The cream cheese is there." You walked around for an hour and a half selecting items, and then the guy at the cash register has a glass in front of him that says "Tips." You're waiting on tables for an hour, and you owe him money. Then there's a sign that says please clean it up when you're finished. They don't give you a waiter or a busboy. Now you've become the janitor. Now you have to start cleaning up the place.

Old Jews are walking around cleaning up Starbucks. "Oh, he's got dirt too? Wait, I'll clean this up." They clean up the place for an hour and a half.

If I said to you, "I have a great idea for a business. I'll open a whole new type of a coffee shop. A whole new type. Instead of 60 cents for coffee I'll charge $2.50, $3.50, $4.50, and $5.50." "Not only that, I'll have no tables, no chairs, no water, no busboy, and you'll clean it up for 20 minutes after you're finished." Would you say to me, "That's the greatest idea for a business I ever heard! We can open a chain of these all over the world!" No, you would put me right into a sanitarium.

Starbucks can only get away with it because they have French titles for everything, Nazi bastard son-of-a-bitches. And I say this with the highest respect, because I don't like to talk about people.

[raptor29]

With additional trial lawyer contributions to the Democrat party soon to follow...........

[EuroFrog]

extensive and gross second and third degree burns to her right hand and arm.

You know, if she really did get second and third degree burns from a leaky cup I cant say as I blame her for suing. I dont know that 10 mil is reasonable though.

[FreePaul]

I should sue.

Won't be that easy. You would have to prove that because the coffee makers were down you didn't have a chance to get hot coffee spilled on you. I agree though. You did miss an opportunity to file at least a ten million dollar suit.

[Last Dakotan]

We'll all have a laugh from this, but in the end nobody will do anything about the litigation crisis. Seems the mentality is you could be next to win the litigation lottery.

[cake_crumb]

Well, Starbucks might as well pay up now. According to that former CNN woman on Fox nowadays - the one who had the plastic surgery; can't remember her name - the woman who sued McDonalds was absolutely definitely injured because she won the suit.

[Tank-FL]

There goes the Price on my Grande Coffee, it will now move past the 2.00 mark.

[who knows what evil?]

Maybe if they give her Long Island; she'll sit down and shut up.

[cubreporter]

Been on this earth a long time and can't tell you how many times I spilled coffee or when making candy got some sticky mollasses on a finger or burnt my hand when taking something out of the hot oven or leaning over the iron and burning my arm....or being splashed by hot oil when putting freedom fries in the pot to fry. Whom do I sue? The people who made the coffee pot? The people who sold the candy making ingredients? The people who built my oven? The people who made my iron or the people whom I was ironing for? Ridiculous? Yep, exactly.

[arasina]

Jackie Mason is a HOOT! I have always loved his zany humor.

[ChefKeith]

The suit says that as Arslanian received the cup, coffee "leaked and flowed from the container on the bare right hand and arm ... causing her to sustain severe burns" and suffer "permanent injury and scarring." The suit describes the injury as "extensive and gross second and third degree burns to her right hand and arm."

BS! If that coffee was so hot that it caused 3rd degree burns (charred skin) the cup would not have just leaked it would have been gone long before she had it running down her arm! She would not even have been able to hold the cup.

[ladyinred]

This happened to me just yesterday. I grabbed a Mocha Grande on my way to work, and because I had my hands and arms full when I walked into my store, the coffee leaked out on my arm. Whose fault was it? It was MY FAULT for trying to carry too much and not being careful! It would never occur to me to blame Starbucks for MY negligence!

[bcoffey]

I went to a Starbucks last week and their coffee makers were broken. The only thing available were expresso drinks.

LOL!

A few weeks ago I went to a Starbuck's that had run out of coffee filters, and all they could fix me was an Americana.

[HamiltonJay]

3rd degree burns from leaking coffee cup? Didn't the part of her brain that even a snail has tell her, HEY THAT HURTS PUT IT DOWN... go off?