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."

[Political Junkie Too]

In business, MM is used to denote millions.

-PJ

[B Knotts]

I just say "Coffee of the Day." :-)

[B Knotts]

10-4.

Still, I don't think it's fair to say that the journalistic use of "M" for million is objectively wrong.

[cake_crumb]

Not according to what's her face who's now on Fox. I didn't make this up. The woman was injured BECSUE she received a judgement. Whether the injuries were as severe as she claimed or not, the fact of the JUDGEMENT means she was injured according to the law.

189 degrees is a fine temperature for coffee. Shoving hot drinks between your legs is stupid, no matter where she bought it.

[azhenfud]

"....vibrating like a plucked guitar string...."

Now that brings to mind the stuff served at the Great Wall in a little shop in Badaling. My guide told me, "Just sip, just sip". I took one taste and understood well why. It was nearly liquid caffeine, and tasted as bad as a dry Dristan tablet.

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS:
Each tablet contains:
Aspirin 325,00 mg:
Phenylephrine Hydrochloride 5,00 mg:
Chlorpheniramine Maleate 2,00 mg:
Caffeine 16,20 mg

Although I've had the "privilege" to taste Starbucks' coffee that once, it ranks (or it's rank) close to the worst. I would only hope it was just the time and place I was at - Charlotte-Douglas Airport.

[kaboom]

In the McDonalds case, I recall that McD's screwed themselves by releasing data that showed their coffee was pressure boiled/brewed? to extremely hot temps which could pose a risk of burns. It took multiple creamers and subfreezing temps to cool the old McD brew before you could drink it. Still, the old bat was really the one at fault.

In this case, the woman must have been drunk or on drugs to not drop the damn cup.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

That'll work. : )

[presidio9]

In common English, "m" or "k" stands for 1,000. "mm" is 1,000,000.

[Riley]

Now that brings to mind the stuff served at the Great Wall in a little shop in Badaling. My guide told me, "Just sip, just sip". I took one taste and understood well why. It was nearly liquid caffeine, and tasted as bad as a dry Dristan tablet.

That'd be fine by me, if they could make it taste better. I can't stand the hot, cloudy water most places call 'coffee'. I'd like to be able to practically chew it.

And yes, I like chocolate-covered coffee beans. :-)

[azhenfud]

"drip with room"

But, exactly how does that transequate into a "small black cup of coffee" in regular English?

[ChefKeith]

google search

no not this case

There is NO way this lady could have gotten a 3rd degree burn from a cup of coffee.

A 3rd degree burn is CHARRED skin, she may have gotten 2nd degree burns.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Well, it's not French! : )

Drip = drip coffee
Room = room to add cream

And they'll even let you say "small" instead of "short" without looking at you funny. ; )

(Try an eggnog latte, available for a limited time - yummy!)

[Paved Paradise]

You just hafta get your own newspaper column. This was the most hysterical piece I've read in weeks. If you have anything else to say, please put me on your list. Just love it. I've had the same thing happen at Panerra's. It's a chain here in Northeast Ohio. You get a bagel and the cream cheese you ask for (the little eensy weensy container) costs as much as a whole big plastic container of it. Duh.

[sonserae]

Actually, last month my husband bought a Starbucks coffee and the coffee leaked out the side seam of the cup all over him and the car. hmmm...I never thought about suing....

[azhenfud]

You may have to begin specifying the DMT like designers have had to do with paint. That's a Dried Mil Thickness.

[Cboldt]

That case happened here in Albuquerque. The reason the woman was burned is that she put the coffee cup between her legs as she drove off!

Umm. False. Not to pick on you, as there are many pother factual errors in posts on this thread. The lady was a passenger, she did get 3rd degree burns, and 3rd degree burns are possible with water below boiling temperature.

Anyway, I won't bother to recite the actual facts of the case, because googling "McDonalds Coffee" will get you plenty of factual links.

Notice that the newspapers didn't prominently report the reduction in legal award ... not sensational, and the media is in business to sell papers and make money, not to imbue the reader with an accurate sense of reality.

[ChefKeith]

see post #37

[cake_crumb]

LOL, yes it's rank. We got our bad coffee at a Starbucks in NY, so I guess their coffee is awful all over.

I don't think I could have handled the uh....drink you had in China. I love Chinese tea though. For a good tasting coffee that'll make your hair stand on end and have you bouncing off the walls for hours, try kafe as it's made in the Mideast. GOOD stuff!

[Spok]

How dare they sell HOT coffee! The next thing you know, McDonald's will be selling COLD pop, and Sears will be selling WARM slippers! It's an outrage!

[douglas1]

thats a good one and I agree that all those special blends taste like there is kerosene in them ,they sometimes sit all day in those stainless steel pots and they taste awful.