How would you feel when you go into a restaurant to have your favorite meal, but you come out with second-degree burns on your body? Well, that may sound super far-fetched, but actually, that happened to a 19-year-old down there in Texas. She went down in the Bill Miller Bar-B-Q drive-thru in San Antonio, but an accidental sauce spill led to these burns, and those were pretty severe. This surely became a legal case down the line, and that’s why today we’re talking about the BBQ Sauce Burn Lawsuit here.
When a Quick Meal Went Wrong
Like, just imagine that you’re out there going to a restaurant to enjoy your favorite meal, and suddenly, it all becomes just a horrifying experience for you. Well, that is exactly what happened in May 2023 to a 19-year-old Texas woman named Genesis Monita ho decided to go to a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q drive-thru in San Antonio to get some tacos. After parking, she opened a small cup of BBQ sauce that slipped and spilled onto her lap. The sauce was not only hot but dangerously hot, too.
When the medical report came out, it clearly revealed that the sauce would have been around approximately 189°F hot, and just so you know, that’s almost boiling. Sure enough, when it spilled, the heat got through her jeans and resulted in second-degree burns that needed medical attention.
The Lawsuit Explained
Well, at this point, many of you might be thinking that it is her fault for not being cautious with the spilling, but in reality, the fault truly lies with the restaurant for serving the auce at such a high and unsafe temperature. It was just an accidental spill, but the temperature of the sauce made it much worse. And to top it all off, there were no warnings, no signs or anything like that. So how could a person would have expected to get such a boiling hot sauce? The restaurant is said to have neglected going through basic safety measures, according to the plaintiff’s lawyers.
And you know what the restaurant said in their defense? It’s hilariously funny; they say that BBQ sauce is generally and traditionally served hot. Sure, that may be true, but should it have been boiling hot? That’s the question to ask here. What is more, the proof was their own internal policy, which set the maximum temperature limit for the sauce to be 165°F. And sure enough, as we already told you the medical report of the plaintiff, the sauce temperature on the day of the accident was almost 24 degrees over the limit.
Jury Verdict and Compensation
It was actually earlier in this year, back in January 2025, that the trial for this case started. And without a shadow of doubt, after reviewing the facts, a Texas jury ruled in Genesis’s favor. As per the verdict, they found the restaurant grossly negligent, meaning the risk was obvious and ignored.
The verdict resulted in a $2.8 million award:
- About $25,000 for medical expenses
- Around $900,000 for physical pain and emotional distress
- Nearly $1.9 million in punitive damages, meant to discourage similar behavior
What Changed After the Verdict
Well, no doubt, after the verdict came in this massive case, the Bill Miller Bar-B-Q implemented a number of modifications, and it is not like they did it just because they had to; they were pressured by the lawsuit’s win to take such action. Talking about the specific changes, see, they put “Caution: Hot” warning labels on the sauce jars, included heat warnings on the menu and the takeout bags, and they went over their kitchen temperature rules once again. Up to this point, no appeal had been filed.
