Starbucks faces another lawsuit, this time from a customer who suffered from a potentially serious allergic reaction after ordering coffee at one of its stores.
Serious Allergy To Nuts
Max Scher, who has a life-threatening allergy to nuts, filed the $10,000 lawsuit against the coffee company last week after he was served coffee with almond milk instead of coffee with soy milk that he ordered.
Scher, who said he is a regular Starbucks customer, said that whenever he orders coffee, he tells the staff to be careful because he has an allergy.
Served Coffee With Almond Milk
In May, he ordered his usual drink at the Jantzen Beach Starbucks in Portland. The cup had soy milk written on it but after just three sips, he started to have a reaction to the drink.
"I had three sips before my reaction started, and that's way too much to have in my system," Scher said.
The 34-year-old said that he could not tell the coffee had almond milk just by the taste, but the reaction was so severe he had to go to the emergency room.
His throat started to itch and his salivary glands went into overdrive. Fortunately, he had Benadryl pills with him and an EpiPen.
After swallowing the pills and injecting himself with EpiPen, he drove to the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in North Portland, where he started to vomit and had trouble breathing.
$10,000 Lawsuit
Scher is now suing Starbucks, saying he cannot afford his medical bills. He said that while he has health insurance, it is not enough and it does not feel right to spend more than $4,000 when it was Starbucks that committed the mistake.
Starbucks said it is now looking into the complaint and is conducting an investigation.
Earlier this year, a group of Starbucks customers in New York City also filed a suit against the coffee shop chain over claims it exposed customers to toxic chemicals by placing pest-extermination strips that contain potentially lethal chemical in food display cases next to food-prep equipment and air vents.
