California Starbucks Accident Attorney Los Angeles

Many people head to Starbucks to grab a quick cup of coffee or a pastry. With more than 28,000 locations in the world, Starbucks has firmly established itself as a go-to place for people in California and across the globe. Like other retail establishments and restaurants in California, Starbucks has a duty to its customers to keep its stores in a safe and hazard-free condition. When the safety standards are violated and cause injuries to people, the injured victims might recover damages by filing personal injury lawsuits. Several types of common accidents can happen at Starbucks that might form the basis for filing legal claims. Common types of accidents that happen at Starbucks

A variety of types of accidents can happen when people visit Starbucks. Some of the most common types of accidents that can result in liability included the following:

• Wet floors caused by uncleaned spills, appliance leaks or tracked-in rain
• Freshly mopped floors without warning signs
• Burn injuries caused by spilled coffee or food
• Broken toilet seats causing people to fall
• Leaky toilets leading people to fall
• Potholes in parking lots
• Broken pavement in sidewalks

Each of these issues is something that can be prevented or corrected with regular inspections and prompt action when they arise. When the store’s managers and employees fail to promptly correct hazardous conditions and someone is injured, the store may be liable to pay damages.

Premises Liability Claims in California

In California, landowners and operators owe a duty to people who are lawfully present on their premises to maintain their properties in a reasonably safe condition. This duty extends to customers who are visiting the premises of businesses, governmental agencies, and residential properties. For establishments like Starbucks, the owners and their agents must act in a reasonable way to warn customers of hazardous conditions and to promptly correct dangers that they know about or reasonably should know about. When a property owner fails to meet the duty of care, resulting in injuries to a customer or guest, the owner may be liable to pay damages under a legal theory called premises liability^[1]. This area of law falls under the state’s tort laws and includes accidents that are caused by the negligence of the property owner or operator. One of the most common types of premises liability claims at Starbucks is slip and fall accidents, which can occur both inside or outside of the building.

Slip and Fall Accidents Inside of Starbucks

Slip and fall accidents can be caused by several different hazards at Starbucks. Inside the stores, people may slip and fall in spilled drinks, grease spots, leaks from machines, and in bathrooms because of leaky toilets or sinks. People can also trip over objects that have been left on the floors, loose tiles, or torn carpets. Because of the risks of injuries from slip and fall accidents, the managers and employees should regularly inspect the premises and promptly clean up spills. When workers mop the floors, they should place signs to warn customers of the slick conditions of the floors. People who slip and fall inside of Starbucks because of spills or leaks may have grounds to file claims if the owners or agents knew or reasonably should have known about the hazard but did nothing to correct it or warn customers about it.

Slip and fall Accidents Outside of Starbucks

Starbucks may be liable for slip and fall accidents that happen on their property outside of the stores in some cases. The company’s duty of care extends to its entire premises and not simply just to the inside of the building. Starbucks may be liable for slip and fall accidents that happen when customers trip and fall in potholes in the parking lot or over broken pieces of the sidewalk if they have existed for a sufficient length of time that the business owner or operator should have reasonably known about them and repaired them or have taken steps to warn customers of their presence.

Hot Beverage Spills at Starbucks

Hot beverage spills are another basis for lawsuits against Starbucks. These incidents happen when an employee spills hot beverages on customers either inside of the store or outside in the drive-through, resulting in serious burn injuries. As we have previously noted, some of the common ways that hot beverage spills and burn injuries happen in Starbucks include the following:

• Servers negligently spilling scalding drinks on customers in the restaurant or drive-through
• Servers tripping over dangerous furniture or floor defects and spilling hot beverages or food on customers
• Steam burns from hot machines^[2]

Burns from hot liquids can happen in just a few seconds. Many coffee drinks are heated to 160 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, which are temperatures that can cause serious burn injuries quickly. Children who have hot liquids spilled on them may have more extensive burn injuries since the burns may cover a greater percentage of their bodies. Elderly adults are also more vulnerable to these types of accidents because their skin is thinner and more susceptible to severe burns. When hot beverage spills are caused by the negligence of an employee or the restaurant, the burn injury victims may have grounds to file legal claims to recover damages.

Potential damages in a Starbucks Accident Claim

An attorney cannot tell you the value of your claim without carefully analyzing the evidence, facts, and circumstances. The value of a Starbucks accident claim will depend on what happened, the extent and severity of your injuries, the likelihood that you will fully recover, and other factors. If an attorney agrees to accept your claim, he or she will carefully analyze everything to determine the potential value and provide you with a monetary range of what it might be worth.

Compensatory damages are meant to compensate people for their losses and include economic and noneconomic damages. Your economic damages are monetary amounts that are meant to compensate you for your pecuniary losses while your noneconomic damages are monetary amounts that are meant to compensate you for your intangible losses. It is more difficult to calculate the value of noneconomic damages. Your lawyer will use a formula to calculate their probable value based on the extent of your injuries and the value of your economic losses.

Some of the types of damages that might be recovered in a Starbucks accident lawsuit include the following:

• Past and future medical costs to treat your injuries
• Past lost wages
• Future income losses if your injury prevents you from returning to work or from working at the same capacity in the future
• Property losses if applicable
• Physical pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Disability
• Disfigurement and scarring

Your attorney can discuss the types of damages that might be available in your case after a careful review.

Get Help From a Starbucks Accident Attorney in Los Angeles

Some accidents at Starbucks will not form the basis for a legal claim. If you have been injured at Starbucks and believe that your accident was caused by the negligence of the property owner or an employee, you should meet with an experienced personal injury attorney at the Steven M. Sweat Personal Injury Lawyers to learn whether your claim has legal merits and the options that you might have. Contact us today to request a free consultation about your Starbucks injury claim by calling us at 866.966.5240.

Sources

[1] Premises Liability

[2] Restaurant Burn Injury Claims in California