Nassau County Jury Finds Starbucks 100% Liable, Awards $8.97 Million for Drive-Thru Injuries

In 2019, Sherry Gold walked out of a Starbucks on Sadler Road in Fernandina Beach. She was 72. As she rounded a bend in the parking lot, an SUV leaving the drive-thru struck her. The impact broke her right knee and right ankle and crushed her left foot.

Gold's injuries did not heal cleanly. By the time her case reached trial she relied on a walker to get around, and her doctors said she still faced more surgery. She sued Starbucks along with the driver and the property owner. The driver, the property owner, and her own insurer, State Farm, settled for confidential amounts, which left Starbucks as the lone defendant the jury would judge.

Curry Pajcic of Pajcic & Pajcic tried the case and put the store's design in front of the jury. The Fernandina Beach location had been built in 2014. Pajcic argued that Starbucks scrapped a planned sidewalk so it could add patio seating, then left customers to cross the path of cars pulling out of the drive-thru. There was no sidewalk, no crosswalk, and no warning signs. A pillar blocked sight lines at the very spot where drivers exited. Pajcic also told the jury that Starbucks knew foot-traffic customers parked and walked through that area to reach the door. "Starbucks corporation pushed their customers off the curb and into traffic," he argued, "and as a result, their customer got run over."

Starbucks countered that the claims against it had no merit. The jury did not agree. After roughly six hours of deliberation in Nassau County Circuit Court, it returned its verdict on the night of April 11, 2022, assigning Starbucks 100 percent of the fault and the driver none.

The total came to $8.97 million: $1.5 million for past pain and suffering, $970,000 for future medical care, and $6.5 million for future pain and suffering.

Starbucks moved for a new trial on April 21, 2022, calling the finding of total liability contrary to the weight of the evidence and the damages excessive. The trial judge denied the motion. Starbucks then appealed the judgment to Florida's First District Court of Appeal.