Michael Garcia v. Starbucks Corp.

Summary

A California state court jury found Starbucks liable on Wednesday for severe burns a Postmates driver suffered while picking up a drive-through order, and the full trial was webcast gavel-to-gavel by Courtroom View Network.

The jury found Starbucks entirely responsible for plaintiff Michael Garcias injuries, assigning him no liability in the first phase of the bifurcated trial after 40 minutes of deliberation and setting up a second phase to determine damage next week.

Outcome

Plaintiff verdict
$50,000,000

Case Information

Attorneys

Witnesses

Plaintiff: Garcia, Michael
Defense: Starbucks
Verdict: $50,000,000

Judge: Frederick Shaller
Jurisdiction: Superior Court of California, Los Angeles
Court: Spring Street Courthouse

Case Number: 20STCV10214
Industry: Food
Practice Area: Negligence

Plaintiff

Garcia, Michael

Represented By:
Rowley, Nicholas (Trial Lawyers for Justice)
Bidegaray, Daniel (Bidegaray Law Firm, LLC)

Defense

Starbucks

Represented By:
Pelletier, Stephen (Price Pelletier, LLP)

Expert Witnesses

Lay Witnesses

SESSIONS

Attorney

Witness

Type

Description

AM Session

Openings

6 Chapters

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:19:45	Opening Statement	Rowley, Nicholas
01:16:20	Break
01:32:35	Opening Statement	Pelletier, Stephen
02:01:07	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brault, John	In Person
02:51:47	End of Session

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es)

17 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Defense Witness(es)

6 Chapters

PM Session

Other

2 Chapters

AM Session

Closings

8 Chapters

PM Session

Verdict

4 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Openings - Damages

8 Chapters

PM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es) - Damages

7 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Plaintiff Witness(es) - Damages

10 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Defense Witness(es) - Damages

9 Chapters

MAR

AM Session

Closings - Damages

11 Chapters

PM Session

Closings - Damages

5 Chapters

MAR

PM Session

Verdict - Damages

4 Chapters

MAR

Michael Garcia v. Starbucks Corp.

Summary

Outcome

SESSIONS

Suggest a Trial

CVN Essentials

Video Library

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:00:33	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brault, John	In Person
00:07:03	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Brault, John	In Person
00:26:49	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brault, John	In Person
00:30:54	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Brault, John	In Person
00:33:18	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brault, John	In Person
00:36:31	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Garcia, Michael	In Person
00:47:32	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Garcia, Michael	In Person
01:08:14	Break
01:27:53	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Garcia, Michael	In Person
01:43:03	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Garcia, Michael	In Person
01:49:31	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Garcia, Michael	In Person
01:50:22	General Case Activities
01:53:19	Witness Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Hawkins, Chandra	In Person
02:02:25	Witness Cross Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Hawkins, Chandra	In Person
02:09:45	General Case Activities
02:11:16	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:36	Witness Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Le, Hanh Trinh	In Person
00:33:56	Witness Cross Examination	Bidegaray, Daniel	Le, Hanh Trinh	In Person
01:04:34	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Le, Hanh Trinh	In Person
01:07:07	Witness Re-Cross Examination	Bidegaray, Daniel	Le, Hanh Trinh	In Person
01:08:22	End of Session

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:00:30	Break
00:20:03	General Case Activities
00:37:27	Closing Statement	Bidegaray, Daniel
00:52:27	Closing Statement	Pelletier, Stephen
01:23:46	Closing Statement	Rowley, Nicholas
01:48:19	General Case Activities
01:48:54	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:40	Opening Statement	Rowley, Nicholas
00:40:04	Opening Statement	Pelletier, Stephen
01:08:52	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Ochoa, Cecilia	In Person
01:19:05	Break
01:39:02	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Falke, Dr. Roberta	In Person
02:02:11	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Falke, Dr. Roberta	In Person
02:40:51	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:10	Witness Direct Examination		Davalos, Alexandra	Transcript Reading
00:14:33	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brenner, Dr. Kevin	In Person
00:47:43	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Brenner, Dr. Kevin	In Person
00:53:08	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brenner, Dr. Kevin	In Person
00:56:21	General Case Activities
00:58:16	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:02:46	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Goldstein, Dr. Irwin	In Person
01:09:45	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Goldstein, Dr. Irwin	In Person
01:34:03	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Goldstein, Dr. Irwin	In Person
01:41:28	Break
01:58:08	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Garcia, Michael	In Person
02:15:20	Witness Cross Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Garcia, Michael	In Person
02:33:06	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Garcia, Michael	In Person
02:38:09	General Case Activities
02:39:57	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:20	Witness Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Brones, Dr. Michel M.D.	In Person
00:20:39	Witness Cross Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Brones, Dr. Michel M.D.	In Person
00:27:33	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Brones, Dr. Michel M.D.	In Person
00:29:34	Witness Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Addario, Dr. Dominick	In Person
00:46:32	Witness Cross Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Addario, Dr. Dominick	In Person
01:06:48	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Addario, Dr. Dominick	In Person
01:07:43	General Case Activities
01:10:43	End of Session

	Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:01:18	Witness Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Gazzaniga, Dr. Michael	In Person
00:21:14	Witness Cross Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Gazzaniga, Dr. Michael	In Person
00:37:27	Witness Re-Direct Examination	Pelletier, Stephen	Gazzaniga, Dr. Michael	In Person
00:38:58	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Garcia, Michael	In Person
00:43:08	Break
01:00:31	Witness Direct Examination	Rowley, Nicholas	Goldstein, Dr. Irwin	Video Conference
01:12:25	General Case Activities
01:21:37	Break
01:37:24	Closing Statement	Rowley, Nicholas
02:31:20	End of Session

	Description	Attorney
00:00:00	General Case Activities
00:00:35	Closing Statement	Pelletier, Stephen
00:55:57	Closing Statement	Rowley, Nicholas
01:21:10	General Case Activities
01:29:47	End of Session

			Description	Attorney	Witness	Presence
		00:00:00	General Case Activities
		00:01:24	Reading of the Verdict
		00:02:28	General Case Activities
		00:09:19	End of Session