Garcia’s lawyers said he required hospitalization and multiple skin grafts and has endured pain and dysfunction since the incident a little over five years ago.

Starbucks said it sympathized with Garcia but planned to appeal.

“We disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive,” the Seattle-based coffee giant said in a statement, adding that it was “committed to the highest safety standards” in handling hot drinks.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Starbucks will have to fork over $50 million to a man whose genitals were severely burned after a hot tea spilled in his lap at a California drive-through.

Delivery driver Michael Garcia underwent skin grafts and other procedures after the fateful spill of the piping hot, venti-sized Starbucks beverage, which immediately fell onto his crotch area after he bought it on Feb. 8, 2020.

The resulting injuries were permanent and life changing, his attorneys said.

Garcia sued Starbucks and on Friday, a Los Angeles County jury decided in his favor, finding an employee of the Seattle-based coffee chain had not wedged the scalding hot drink into a takeout tray well enough before handing it over to him.

LOS ANGELES (CNN) – A jury in California has ordered Starbucks to pay $50 million to a delivery driver who was burned by hot coffee.

According to a lawsuit filed in 2020, Michael Garcia was picking up drinks at a drive-thru through in Los Angeles.

His lawyer says one of the drinks fell out of the container and onto Garcia, causing severe burns, disfigurement and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.

The lawsuit accused Starbucks of breaching its duty of care by failing to secure the lid.

The coffee company plans to appeal the verdict.

This case is reminiscent of a famous 1994 lawsuit where a woman sued McDonald’s after suffering third-degree burns when hot coffee spilled onto her lap.

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Michael Garcia was picking up drinks at a drive-through in Los Angeles when he “suffered severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals when hot drinks ultimately spilled” onto his lap, according to the lawsuit filed in California Superior Court in 2020. The lawsuit accused Starbucks of breaching its duty of care by failing to secure the lid.

Michael Parker, Garcia’s lawyer, said his client was picking up three beverages and one of the hot drinks wasn’t fully pushed into the container. When the barista handed Garcia the order, a drink fell out of the container and onto Garcia, Parker said.

Garcia’s damages included physical pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, humiliation, inconvenience, grief, disfigurement, physical impairment, anxiety and emotional distress, according to a recording of the verdict from Courtroom View Network.

Starbucks said it plans to appeal the verdict.

“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,” a company spokesperson said in a statement. “We have always been committed to the highest safety standards in our stores, including the handling of hot drinks.”

The lawsuit is reminiscent of a famous 1994 lawsuit against McDonald’s in which a woman spilled hot coffee on her lap and suffered third-degree burns. The plaintiff in that case, Stella Liebeck, was originally awarded nearly $3 million.