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• What is a class-action lawsuit? What are the requirements? Should this lawsuit be a class action?
Why or why not?
• What other products or services are similar to iced coffee and could be affected by a precedent
from this case?
• Should the fact that customers can ask for less ice be taken into consideration in this case? Is it a
significant factor? Could Starbucks use it as a defense?
When first approaching this case, it seemed like there would be no real argument. However, after
further examination from both sides I found both sides’ points to be interesting.
This case takes place in Chicago where Starbucks is being sued for putting too much ice in their drinks
and misleading customers. The parties in this case are Stacy Pincus and Starbucks. The example used to
argue the case was a 24 fluid ounce cup that costs $2.95.
An area of law that this could apply to is commercial law. This deals with businesses (Starbucks) and how
they conduct themselves with consumers (in this case Stacy Pincus.) The plaintiff must prove that
Starbucks is breaching the Federal Trade Commission, which outlaws unfair or deceptive acts affecting
commerce.
The types of damages applied to this case are monetary damages, aka money. Stacy Pincus is arguing
that customers are being robbed 10 fluid ounces per venti drink. If $2.95 is the cost of 24 ounces, then
that is about $0.123 per fluid ounce. There the customer is being robbed roughly $1.23 per venti drink.
Similar products that can be affected by this are lemonade (any iced drink).
This can be a class action lawsuit since Starbucks serves hundreds of thousands of customers per day. All
of these customers are represented during this case. I believe the plaintiff has an argument here. Stacy
Pincus can show how Starbucks is guaranteeing customers one amount of an iced beverage, when in
reality then receive a little over half of that amount, which can be calculated.
