A California family has filed a lawsuit against Starbucks after allegedly discovering a barista’s blood inside their drinks.
According to KTLA, Amanda and Louis Vice of Redlands, California, claim the incident occurred in 2016 when they ordered multiple beverages at a San Bernardino Starbucks location. Court documents state that once the family returned home, they discovered one of the cups had a red smear inside, and that a “strong metallic smell.” The family claims they found a similar substance inside a Frappucino that had been consumed by the mother and the couple’s 2-year-old daughter.
“Once we drank it, then we could see on the inside of the rim that there was blood,” Amanda Vice told the news outlet.
Once they determined that no one in the house was bleeding, the Vices called the Starbucks notified them about their disgusting discovery. The family claims they were informed about an employee who was removed from the floor after suffering a wound. Naturally, they freaked out.
“My wife and my baby just drank someone’s blood,” Louis Vice said. “It was bad.”
The complaint states that a Starbucks manager offered the family free drinks for a week; however, the Vices declined. They instead asked for the injured employee to get a blood test to determine if he/she was carrying HIV or any other disease. Though the manager allegedly agreed, the lawsuit states that the family was later informed that the company could not force an employee to undergo a blood test. So, the family took the tests for themselves. Thankfully, the results came back negative for any diseases; however, the Vices said the experience had caused them “extreme distress.”
According to a press release by the family’s legal team, Starbucks offered each affected relative $1,000 for their troubles. The family declined this offer, as well.
The Vices are seeking an unspecified amount in damages based on based on a failure to warn, negligence, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, fraud, intentional infliction of emotional distress, battery, assault, negligent hiring, as well as negligent training and supervision.
Starbucks spokesman Reggie Borges told People magazine the following:
“We’ve been working directly with [the family] to find a resolution since this allegedly happened almost two years ago, so we were surprised that they filed a lawsuit last week. And we were even more surprised that their legal team put out a news release on Wednesday and felt the need to blast it out to media.”
“We’ll continue to try to work with the family to try to come to a resolution and get a better understanding of what they feel is fair based on these allegations,” he continued. “But now that it’s become a lawsuit we are fully prepared to make our case on this matter.”
