A teen from Ontario is seeking $1 million in general and special damages from Starbucks Coffee Canada.
In her suit, Abigail Sataur – her father serving as her litigation guardian – named the popular coffee chain, a Brampton store manager, and the barista as defendants, claiming negligence over an alleged incident that left her with permanent injuries.
On March 14, 2015, Sataur was in the Starbucks outlet at 52 Quarry Edge Dr. in Brampton when she asked the barista to fill a baby bottle with warm water. In the state of claim filed in Superior Court of Justice, the barista is identified only as Jane Doe.
“Jane Doe filled the bottle with scalding hot water and spilled the water on Abigail’s hands, causing severe and permanent injuries to Abigail,” the court document said. Sataur was 14 at the time of the incident, and was filling the bottle for her niece.
The statement continued, claiming that Starbucks and its employees “failed to take reasonable or any care at all to ensure that the Plaintiff, Abigail Sataur, would be reasonably safe while attending Starbucks.” The document also maintained that the company failed to “prevent an injury… which they knew or ought to have known.”
Sataur’s lawsuit claimed Starbucks employed “incompetent servants or agents and/or staff to ensure the safety of Abigail,” and failed to “instruct properly . . . their employees in proper methods and procedures to be used to regulate water temperatures and handle hot beverages.”
In an email response to Toronto Star, Starbucks said that the allegations have not yet been proven in court, and that the company has not yet delivered a statement of defense. However, a spokesperson stated that the company is “fully prepared to address the claims in that case as we believe our partners (employees) are not at fault.”
Now 16 years old, Sataur is seeking $1 million in general and special damages and legal costs. In her statement, the injuries to her hands and arms – which require future hospitalization and rehabilitation – have also caused her headaches, mood changes and depression. She also claimed that her injuries have left her “unable to participate in recreational, household and athletic activities.”
Last year, a lower court judge agreed to Starbucks’ request to strike down the lawsuit against the manager and the barista because it did not disclose a “reasonable cause of action.”
A Court of Appeal three-judge panel ruled against the decision.
“Respectfully, the general rule is the opposite,” the panel wrote in a ruling released late last year. “There is no general rule in Canada that an employee acting in the course of her employment cannot be sued personally for breaching a duty of care owed to a customer.”
