Consumer Apps · Restaurant/Loyalty App · Private litigation
Starbucks
Headline
A Los Angeles County jury awarded a delivery driver $50 MILLION (March 2025) after a venti hot tea that, his lawyers said, a barista failed to secure fell into his lap at a drive-thru, causing third-degree burns…
A Los Angeles County jury awarded a delivery driver $50 MILLION (March 2025) after a venti hot tea that, his lawyers said, a barista failed to secure fell into his lap at a drive-thru, causing third-degree burns; Starbucks said it disagreed with the verdict and planned to appeal. Separately, a 2026 consumer lawsuit alleges Starbucks' '100% Ethical Sourcing' marketing claim is false, and that certain decaf products contain measurable VOC (volatile organic compound) chemicals the marketing doesn't disclose. And baristas in California reportedly allege the company's tip-pooling system quietly diverts money away from the employees actually earning those tips — with the math on a busy location adding up to real money missing from workers' pockets week after week.
- Severity
- Evidence tierUnassigned
- Claims confirmed
- Last verified2026-08-04
Case status. Private litigation; the legal tier of its sources has not been assigned yet.
Primary source. www.aol.com/news/jury-awarded-delivery-driver-burned-222405732.html — Verified - primary source confirmed.
Terms
Arbitration
Not independently confirmed this pass — standard binding arbitration + class action waiver expected for the customer-facing rewards app specifically.
Data sharing
REPORTED 2026 DATA BREACH: on Feb 6, 2026, Starbucks discovered unauthorized access to 'Partner Central' (an EMPLOYEE-facing system, not the customer rewards app) after a third party obtained login credentials via phishing websites impersonating the real Partner Central login page. Per Starbucks' notice to the Maine AG (as reported by Security Affairs, March 14, 2026), 889 individuals were affected; access ran from Jan 19 to Feb 11, 2026, exposed data included names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth and bank account and routing numbers, and notifications began March 10, 2026 (the Maine-resident count and exact filing date were not confirmed) — a relatively small-scale, contained breach compared to many other findings in this tracker, and again employee-facing rather than customer-facing.
Fees and billing
Not itemized this pass.
Contacts
Privacy contact. Not recorded.
Legal notice. PUBLIC COMPANY (SBUX). Service route: c/o General Counsel / Corporate Secretary, Seattle, Washington — the corporate address on the SEC Form 10-K cover page is the official address of record. Confirm the exact street address on the current 10-K at sec.gov/edgar, and check the state-of-incorporation registered agent (usually Delaware; most large filers use The Corporation Trust Company or Corporation Service Company) via the Secretary of State business-entity search. A registered agent MUST accept service, which is why it is the reliable channel when a company publishes no privacy address.
Mailing address. Not recorded.
Evidence
| Claim | Kind | Support | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. A Los Angeles jury awarded a delivery driver $50 million. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 2. Hot tea spilled in his lap at a drive-thru, causing severe burns. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 3. The tea was 180-190°F. | fact | unsupported | 1 (0 confirmed) |
| 4. A stark reminder of just how hot Starbucks serves its drinks. | characterization | n/a | none recorded |
| 5. A 2026 consumer lawsuit alleges Starbucks' '100% Ethical Sourcing' marketing claim is false. | fact | unsupported | 1 (1 confirmed) |
| 6. The suit alleges certain decaf products contain undisclosed VOC chemicals. | fact | unsupported | none recorded |
| 7. California baristas allege Starbucks' tip-pooling system diverts money from employees earning the tips. | fact | unsupported | none recorded |
| 8. The math on a busy location adds up to real money missing from workers' pockets week after week. | characterization | n/a | none recorded |
1 of 8 claims have a confirmed source of their own.
Sources
| Source | Claim | Tier | Status | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| none | Claim 3 | Unassigned | not found | No quote recorded. Quote basis: not recorded. |
| court · 2026-01-13 | Claim 5 | Unassigned | confirmed | “to stop Starbucks from continuing to market its coffee as "100% ethically sourced" ... unless and until that claim is truthful” Quote basis: not recorded. |
Source vault
Link status: Candidate - not yet fetched
| Document | Last fetch | |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy policy starbucks.com/privacy-policy/ | Not fetched yet | NO (HTML only) |
| Terms of service starbucks.com/terms-of-use/ | Not fetched yet | NO (HTML only) |
| Website starbucks.com | Not fetched yet | — |
| Primary source https://www.aol.com/news/jury-awarded-delivery-driver-burned-222405732.html Verification: Verified - primary source confirmed | Not fetched yet | — |
Enforcement
No enforcement actions are linked to this row.
State statute
No comprehensive state privacy statute on file for Washington