A popular barbecue chain has been ordered to pay $2.8 million to a teenager who was brutally burned by their sauce.
Genesis Monita, 19, and her sister went to Bill Miller in San Antonio, Texas, to get four breakfast tacos before heading to school on May 19, 2023.
After receiving their food in the drive-through line, she drove them into a space in the restaurant’s parking lot to eat.
In court filings, she described how the barbeque sauce container she had taken out was scalding hot, causing her to drop it and sustain burns on her upper right thigh.
Following less than two hours of deliberation, a Bexar County court jury determined that the severe injuries she endured were a result of ‘gross negligence’.
Jurors awarded her $900,000 for her past and future mental anguish, physical pain and impairment, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
In addition to receiving $25,225 for medical expenses and $700 for lost earnings, she was awarded $1.9 million in punitive damages on top of the compensation.
Speaking after the jury decision, Monita told News 4: ‘No one has ever apologized to me, they just shook my hand. I have not received an apology from them.
Genesis Monita, seen here, and her sister went to Bill Miller in San Antonio, Texas , to get four breakfast tacos before heading to school on May 19, 2023
She said in court filings the barbeque sauce container was extremely hot when she took it out and it led to her dropping it – causing burns on her upper right thigh
‘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.’
The sauce was 189 degrees when she dropped it on herself, 24 degrees above the temperature spelled out in the company’s policy.
In court, Bill Miller’s lawyer Barry McClenahan countered that the 165 degrees is a minimum temperature to comply with safety.
He added that there was no policy that prohibited the sauce from being heated to 189 degrees.
Attorney Lawrence Morales II who represented the teen told the jury on January 15 the chain had violated their safety policy about food temperatures.
‘Bill Miller’s unequivocal policy is they will serve their sauce at 165 degrees. Bill Miller violated their safety policy and allowed their barbecue sauce to heat up to a dangerous 189 degrees.’
He also claimed they further violated their policy by handing the sauce over in a four-ounce plastic cup rather than a Styrofoam cup.
Morales said restaurants must warn customers if their food or serving containers are dangerously hot and claimed that the chain has failed to do so this time.
After receiving their food in the drive-through line, she drove them into a space in the restaurant’s parking lot to eat
In court, Bill Miller’s lawyer Barry McClenahan countered that the 165 degrees is a minimum temperature to comply with safety
However McClenahan hit back against the allegations and said that Monita’s own negligence was the ‘proximate cause’ of the incident.
‘What would we have warned Ms. Monita of that she did not already know? She had the sauce a hundred times, and it was always the same temperature.
‘At Bill Miller’s, the sauce is always hot, and our customers know that. And that’s why it’s hot,’ McClenahan said.
Referencing the use of plastic cups, he told the court that the manufacturers had said they were safe up to 230 degrees.
Bill Miller’s had previously tried to reimburse Monita for her medical expenses, lost income and to have her car cleaned.
One of their arguments was that Monita only received medical care for the burn on the day of the incident and never went back to the doctors.
Monita added: ‘I just want to thank my lawyers and my jury for believing in me when I didn’t believe in myself.
‘So, that honestly played a big role, because I was ready to give up, but they kept telling me, “No, keep going” So, I really want to thank them for everything they did for me.’
