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NEWS > BUSINESS > DYSLEXIC WOMAN SUES STARBUCKS OVER WARNING ON COFFEE CUP

DYSLEXIC WOMAN SUES STARBUCKS OVER WARNING ON COFFEE CUP

July 10 2008

Bismarck, ND – A 37 year old local woman has levelled a multi-million dollar lawsuit against coffee giant Starbucks, claiming that the “hot contents” warning on the side of her drink caused her recent car accident.

Sara Hawkins of Bismarck was charged in the March 25 accident that left her and the occupant of another car, 25 year old David Wilkes also of Bismarck, with superficial injuries. She has yet to be tried on the charges stemming from the crash but is proactively claiming that it was caused by the label on the cup of coffee she had purchased from Starbucks.

“On March 25th, my client had purchased a large Colombia Narino Supremo on her way in to work. While driving she became distracted while attempting to read the small text on the side of the cup, leading to the accident,” her lawyer Camden Grace said. “My client suffers from severe dyslexia and became confused by the letters on the side of the cup. While it may be simple for a non dyslexic person to quickly read such small text, for someone who suffers such impairment such as this, such actions are not quite that simple. It is our assertion that Starbucks was negligent to the needs of people such as my client by including this text on the side of their cups.”

With the suit pending, Starbucks had no comment.

“It’s not unusual for this type of thing to happen obviously. Ordinarily one would wait until the criminal charges were settled, but this may be a proactive defence tactic,” said Scrape TV legal analyst Gabe Hawthorne. It’s unlikely they would win a suit such as this, but in these types of situations a settlement is a likelihood. It is the first time I have ever heard of dyslexia being used as a defence. It will be interesting to see if they take the same tact in the criminal proceeding.”

The occupant of the other declined to speak to us, but through a family member indicated that he was going to wait out the results of the Starbucks lawsuit before taking any action. “He is not dyslexic, but given that he was a victim of dyslexic actions, we feel that the company is as liable to him as it is to Ms. Hawkins. We haven’t made a decision as yet.”

Hawkins faces the criminal charges at the end of August.

William Ashford, Business Correspondent

NEWS > BUSINESS > DYSLEXIC WOMAN SUES STARBUCKS OVER WARNING ON COFFEE CUP