Starbucks Will Not Have to Pay Cop for Hot Coffee Spill

[TexasTowelie]

A jury has found that Starbucks should not be forced to pay for the medical fees and emotional suffering that a police officer claimed he allegedly endured after accidentally spilling a cup of the chain's hot coffee on his lap.

The verdict was read in the North Carolina court this morning after both sides agreed that they would be willing to accept the verdict if it were reached by a majority of the jurors and not necessarily all of them, ABC News affiliate WTVD reports.

Lt. Matthew Kohr suffered third degree burns when he said that the lid on his coffee popped off and the paper cup allegedly crumbled.

He and his wife, Melanie Kohr, were suing the coffee giant for $750,000, citing his medical expenses that came from a surgery to remove part of his intestine.

Kohr said he suffered from Chrons' disease before the accident and that the burn caused a massive flare.

Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/US/starbucks-pay-cop-hot-coffee-spill/story?id=30957423

[elleng]

1. It's really sad his Chrohn's flared,

but I agree with the jury's decision.

[TexasTowelie]

2. They did misspell it in the article, didn't they?

It is Crohn's, not Chron's.

[elleng]

3. Yes, and I foolishly followed them!

BACK to the best rule: The first answer that comes to mind is CORRECT!!!

[yeoman6987]

4. I agree. Free coffee too.

If on the jury, I might have gone as far to pay what insurance didn't.

[elleng]

6. It's possible jury was not permitted to consider or discuss insurance.

[yeoman6987]

7. Good point.

[unblock]

8. sadly it doesn't work like that; the insurance company gets reimbursed first.

[Warpy]

5. Seems to be different from the NM case

In that case, the restaurant had been cited several times for serving their coffee too hot and had failed to lower the temperature.

In addition, Kohr didn't use the Starbuck's paper cup insert as directed, in a hard plastic outer sleeve. The cup was never meant to be stand-alone.

Still, extensive third degree burns in a younger person mean that Starbuck's needs to turn the heat down a bit, too.

The flare is not surprising since Crohn's is exacerbated by stress, but he'd have a hard time proving the burns were his only stressor.