A woman is claiming that her precious dog died because of Starbucks, and because of the painful loss of her pet, she is suing the coffee giant. She said her dog was killed by scalding hot tea from the coffee shop in 2015.
Deanna Salas-Solano, 58 years old, narrated that she bought hot tea from a Starbucks drive-through in Denver, Colorado in 2015. She alleged that the lid on the drink was not secured properly and the hot drink spilled on her skin.
Salas-Solano further claimed that the tea was so hot that even her clothes melted, causing damage to the skin of her stomach and legs.
She said that due to the excruciating pain of the spilled hot drink on her skin, she let out loud cries, making her beloved dog Alexander to jump on her lap. She said that because of the dog’s sudden jump to her lap, she accidentally spilled tea on him, too, from the unsecured cap.
She said in the lawsuit she lodged against Starbucks that the beverage she was given wasn’t double-capped and that there was no protective sleeve.
Solas-Solano further claimed in the said lawsuit that her dog was immediately brought straight to an emergency veterinary practice due to the incident. Sadly, she claimed that the dog “ultimately succumbed to the injuries caused by the tea, dying a short time later.”
She also alleged that for her part, she was taken straight to a hospital for treatment of her burns. The lawsuit said Solas-Solano had to undergo surgery the next day. It also said that she needed skin grafts, and allegedly suffered “two percent total body surface area second-degree burn injury to the abdomen and bilateral thighs.”
Solas-Solano, for her injuries and the loss of her dog, is suing Starbucks $100,000 in compensation.
Starbucks is standing its ground and refuting the claims against it. In a statement, the coffee shop said: “We have video evidence that clearly contradicts the claims made by the plaintiff and believe they are without merit. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”
Starbucks said they are sympathetic with what happened to their customer and the injuries she sustained, but that they can not accept that their attending employee who served Solas-Solano was at fault.
Media outfit KDVR News was granted access to the video Starbucks says they have, and they claim it shows that the cup did have a sleeve and the lid seemed secure. They also claimed that Solas-Solano already has her dog on her lap while buying the drink. They said that she was also apparently on her phone at that time.
It will be up to the court to establish who is telling the truth.
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