An oil and gas executive has sued Starbucks after a hot tea spill left him with debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.
Vladimir Podlipskiy, 63, filed the federal lawsuit in San Diego last week over the August 28, 2024 incident at a Starbucks location in that city. The executive was meeting with colleagues when he ordered the hot beverage.
During the meeting, a Starbucks employee allegedly asked Podlipskiy to move closer to a “wobbly” table while his hot tea rested on it. The beverage then tumbled onto his lap, groin area, and genitals.
“[The employee] knew or… should have known that directing customers to move closer to an unstable table while a hot beverage was present created a foreseeable risk that the hot beverage would spill onto and burn a customer,” the lawsuit states.
Podlipskiy’s attorneys allege he did not cause the spill. They claim the Seattle-based coffee giant failed to “exercise reasonable care” in handling and securing the hot tea and inspecting or maintaining table stability.
Starbucks was also negligent by “directing, requesting, and/or requiring [Podlipskiy] to move closer to the unstable table while a hot drink was present,” the complaint detailed.
The lawsuit says the spill caused “catastrophic burns and injuries” to Podlipskiy’s genitals. He continues to suffer severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage.
The executive also endures physical pain, emotional distress, and mounting medical expenses.
Podlipskiy is seeking unspecified general and special damages to be determined at trial, plus legal fees and court costs.
Starbucks responded by filing an answer denying the allegations. The company stated that Podlipskiy “may have failed in his duty to mitigate his damages.”
The case arrives months after a Los Angeles jury ordered Starbucks to pay $50 million to delivery driver Michael Garcia, who suffered similar injuries from a hot tea spill at a California drive-thru in 2020. Garcia, who was picking up an order when an improperly secured drink fell into his lap, sustained severe burns, disfigurement, and debilitating nerve damage to his genitals.
In the viral moment that captivated national attention, Garcia’s attorneys proved through surveillance footage that a barista failed to secure one of three venti-sized “medicine ball” drinks in its cardboard carrier. The spill occurred less than two seconds after Garcia took the order into his car. He received two skin grafts on his penis at the Grossman Burn Center and was left with permanent discoloration, disfigurement, and reduced sexual function.
Starbucks called that verdict “excessive” and vowed to appeal, saying it “strongly disagree[s] with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident.”
The Podlipskiy case is now proceeding in San Diego federal court.