Starbucks sued for $114 million over coupon
10:33 PM PDT on Friday, September 8, 2006
Associated Press
NEW YORK – Starbucks is being sued for $114 million over its recall of a coupon that entitled the holder to a free iced drink.
Attorney Peter Sullivan filed the lawsuit today in New York on behalf of a 23-year-old Starbucks regular who he says felt “betrayed” when her coupon was not honored. He is accusing the Seattle-based coffee company of fraud and says he will request class-action status for the suit.
Starbucks e-mailed the coupon last month to selected employees with instructions for them to forward the coupon to friends and family. Starbucks withdrew the offer when the e-mail distribution got out of control…..
Is this how our legal system supposed to work? Is this how our tax money are supposed to be spent? 
I hope Starbucks would sue this idiot and his lawyer for a frivolous lawsuit.
One of the features of democratic society is that anyone has access to the court system to seek redress. The downside is that it’s also open to abuse, such as we see here.
And people wonder why so many are pushing for tort reform, and the trial lawyers are so opposed.
Keep in mind the $114 million is based on the estimated size of the class, which still seems high, IMO. The 23-year-old is just the lead plaintiff in the case. I don’t know if we should jump to conclusions about the merits of the case — if it is truly without merit, the case can still be dropped or dismissed at minimal cost to the taxpayer.
One problem with the system… Should Mr. Sullivan prevail in the case, I imagine that each member of the plaintiff class would only be entitled to a few dollars; however, Mr. Sullivan would likely get millions of dollars in legal fees.
welcome to america…land for lawyers and doctors!!!!
we need better lawyers…
We need *fewer* lawyers. Also, they should be barred from legislative bodies, because they create destructive positive feedback in the system: lawyers pass more laws, which is good for lawyers, who pass more laws–and so on, until eventually everything grinds to a halt under the burden of a bloated legal system.
If you give me a dollar its mine. If you take it back, then I’ll get mad. The amount is not important, but that Starbucks is unilaterally breaking its contractual agreement to give you a cup of coffee.
By the way, it’s really hard to read those letters you have to type to post a message.
Maybe someone will sue over the fact that its hard to read the letters. Mental pain and anguish.