Classic Rant #368 (November 4, 2010): Tea Burn Idiot

Now that the Garden has re-opened, we can move on to more important matters ...

An elderly New Yorker (not the woman in the picture) has failed to persuade a U.S. appeals court that Starbucks Corp. should be held liable for severe burns she suffered after spilling tea served in a double cup.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld on Tuesday a lower court's dismissal of a $3 million lawsuit brought by Rachel Moltner against the world's largest coffee chain.

In February 2008, the woman, then 76, burned herself at a Starbucks coffee shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

She spilled tea onto her left leg and foot when she tried to remove the lid from a "venti"-sized cup of tea, causing burns that required a skin graft. Her hospital stay later resulted in other injuries, including bed sores as well as herniated discs caused by a fall out of bed.

I always knew coffee and tea weren't really good for you!

The plaintiff accused Starbucks of serving tea that was too hot in a double cup--one cup placed inside another--and that the cup wasn't designed correctly.

The appeals court rejected her case, saying "double-cupping is a method well known in the industry as a way of preventing a cup of hot tea from burning one's hand."

Once again, people are blaming others for their misfortunes. Blame McDonald's for making your kids fat! Blame Starbucks because you dumped hot tea on yourself!

It seems no one takes responsibility for their own actions anymore.

Will candy companies be liable when a kid has rotten teeth? Will clothing manufacturers be liable when a woman wears clothes that are too tight, or shoes with heels that are too high, and they either cut off their own circulation or fall on their faces?

People need to take responsibility when they make poor choices, whether it has to do with what we eat or what we wear.

The woman in this case simply spilled the cup's contents on herself. Haven't we all done this at one time or another?

If she did this at home, it would have simply been an accident. But because she did this at Starbucks, when she looked at her burns, she saw dollar signs.

Sorry lady, you didn't have a case, and I am glad that the court felt the same way.

In fact, the woman should have been fined for bringing such a frivolous case to court.

And I'll bet she's drinking something cooler now, maybe iced tea.

If she drops that, will she claim that she got ice burns?