A Texas woman has been awarded nearly $3 million from a barbecue restaurant chain after she says she was scalded by too-hot barbecue sauce in a takeout order. Per the negligence suit filed by 19-year-old Genesis Monita, she and her sister visited a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q in San Antonio on May 19, 2023, and had pulled into a parking space after going through the drive-thru to chow down on their breakfast tacos, reports KENS. "When Ms. Monita took the container of [barbecue] sauce it was so hot that it caused her to drop the container and spill the sauce on her right thigh, causing a second-degree burn," the complaint alleged.
The suit accuses the eatery of serving "dangerously hot" barbecue sauce—Monita's legal team says Bill Miller Bar-B-Q has a safety policy of cooking the sauce to no more than 165 degrees Fahrenheit, but in this case had served it at nearly 190 degrees. The complaint also notes that the sauce was served in a plastic cup instead of in a Styrofoam container, and that Monita wasn't warned on just how hot the sauce was.
Per KABB, Monita and her mother both took the stand during the trial on Thursday to describe how the incident had affected her, causing her to miss work and school from her "severe injuries." The two women noted that Monita also suffered from depression and isolation as a result of the accident. Attorneys for the restaurant chain said they offered to pay for her medical clinic bill, wages from lost work, and car cleanup, but that Monita refused to settle for that.
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The restaurant's lawyers also argued that Monita was still employed by the same employer and only went to the medical clinic one time for treatment. On Friday, a jury awarded her $1.8 million in punitive damages, as well as $900,000 in compensatory damages, per KENS. It's not clear yet if Bill Miller Bar-B-Q will appeal. Chron.com notes this case is reminiscent of one filed more than three decades ago in which a New Mexico woman sued McDonald's after she says she was burned by too-hot coffee from its drive-thru. She settled with the chain for an undisclosed amount. (More lawsuit stories.)
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