Case Study on Strumlauf v. Starbucks Corp.

A latte (which means "milk" in Italian) is a coffee drink made with milk and often topped

with milk foam. According to the Starbucks menu, its Grande (which means "big" in

Italian) lattes contained 16 fl. oz. A group of heated Grande-latte-drinkers sued

Starbucks for breach of express warranty, alleging that the coffee company consistently

under filled its lattes by 25 percent. That is, they claimed, the Grande-sized lattes

contained only 12 ounces of coffee topped with about an inch of foam, instead of the

promised 16 ounces of liquid coffee. The plaintiffs offered the following evidence:

Starbucks provided baristas with pitchers that had "fill to" lines that were too low for

the finished product to actually be 16 oz. Additionally, the latte recipe instructed

baristas to "leave at least 1/4 inch of space below the rim of the serving cup." But the

serving cup's capacity was exactly 16 oz., which meant that the Grande lattes could not

possibly contain the promised amount. Starbucks filed a motion to dismiss, arguing

that the plaintiffs should just relax and get another cup of coffee.

Argument for Plaintiffs: Your honors, the Starbucks menu clearly represented that its

Grande lattes contained 16 fluid ounces. Any reasonable consumer would understand

that statement as a promise to deliver 16 ounces of liquid coffee, not 12 ounces of coffee

with a 4-ounce foamy filler on top. My clients would not have paid as much as they did

for the latte if they had known it was only 12 ounces of actual coffee. Starbucks

breached its express warranty and injured my clients, who received much less than

what was promised. Moreover, Starbucks knew what it was doing because its company-

wide policy instructed baristas to under fill latte cups. Starbucks needs to stand by its

word.

Argument for the Defendant: Your honors, Starbucks did not expressly warrant that

it would deliver 16 ounces of liquid coffee. Instead, it promised to deliver a 16-ounce

latteand that is exactly what it did. The definition of a latte is a milk-based coffee drink

topped with milk foam. Any reasonable latte-drinker knows that the foam added to the

top of the coffee is part of the drink and counts toward the total fluid ounce

measurement. If a consumer does not want foam in her coffee, she is free to drink an

Americano, a macchiato, or the drip coffee of the day.

Required to Answer when You Be the Judge:

Did Starbucks breach an express warranty by under filling its lattes? How? Explain.