A Texas restaurant was been ordered to pay $2.8 million (Rs 24 crore) to a teenager who filed a lawsuit after she was burned by the barbecue sauce. A six-member jury delivered the verdict last week with Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Enterprises ordered to pay more than $25,000 (Rs 21 lakh) for the woman's medical expenses and $900,000 (Rs 7.7 crore) for past and future mental anguish, physical pain and impairment. The remaining $1.9 million (Rs 16.4 crore) was offered to the victim in punitive damages.
"No one has ever apologised to me, they just shook my hand. I have not received an apology from them," the victim, Genesis Monita, 19, told News 4.
The incident transpired in May 2023 when Ms Monita and her sister went to Bill Miller in San Antonio and ordered breakfast tacos with barbecue sauce. After taking the sauce out of the bag in the restaurant's parking, Ms Monita instantly dropped it on her leg because of how hot the container was and sustained a second-degree burn.
Though the restaurant policy states that sauce should be a minimum of 165 degrees (73C) when it is served, the lawsuit claimed that it was 189 degrees (87C) at the time of the incident.
"I just hoped Bill Miller's can just put their customers first and not try and blame them like they did to me. Two years [later], I am just glad it is over," said Ms Monita.
Prior to the jury order, the restaurant chain, headquartered in San Antonio, sent Ms Monita a check for her medical clinic bill and offered to cover her lost wages from missing work. They also offered to pay to clean her car where she spilled the sauce.
Ms Monita, however, declined the said offer.
"Now, you want more than that?" attorneys for Bill Miller Bar-B-Q said inside the courtroom. "No," Ms Monita replied. "Just what the jury thinks is fair."
Previous instance
In 2023, a Florida family was awarded $800,000 (Rs 6.9 crore) after a flaming-hot McDonald's chicken nugget fell on the thigh of a little girl, leading to second-degree burns. Four-year-old Olivia Caraballo had gone with her mother, Philana Holmes to a Tamarac McDonald's where they bought the Happy Meal. After receiving the food from the drive-thru window, Ms Holmes passed it along to her daughter and son in the back seat and drove away.
According to court documents, Ms Holmes did not realise at first why her daughter was screaming in the back. Upon pulling up into a nearby parking lot to help the child, she noticed the burn and took photos on her iPhone, which included audio clips of the child's screams.
After a lengthy court battle, the family was awarded $400,000 (Rs 3.4 crore) for the suffering and mental anguish suffered in the past four years as well as $400,000 for the future.
