Starbucks Burn Injury Lawyer in Bakersfield

By Michael Shemtoub, trial attorney, Beverly Law. Updated November 2026.

Beverly Law is not affiliated with Starbucks.

The burn care problem in Kern County

A Bakersfield coffee burn now raises another question: where to get treated. Dignity Health gave notice that the Grossman Burn Center at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital, 420 34th Street, would close on June 30, 2026, along with its seven-bed inpatient unit and its outpatient burn clinic. The hospital said its emergency room would still provide immediate burn care. Nurses who protested the closure told 23ABC the closest burn care would then be about 100 miles away, in Fresno.

Grossman was not ABA-verified. The state’s December 2025 list showed it as designated locally, and it no longer appears in the American Burn Association’s directory.

For a hot-drink burn, the ABA’s referral guidelines point to a burn center for any full-thickness burn and for deep burns of the face, hands, genitals, perineum or joints, and the ABA adds that all burns in children may benefit from referral. A family whose child is sent to Fresno or Los Angeles should keep mileage, meal and hotel receipts with the medical bills. Our Bakersfield burn injury page covers the closure in more detail.

Reported Starbucks burn cases from Bakersfield

None turned up. The court records and news coverage we reviewed show no Starbucks burn lawsuit or incident from Bakersfield or Kern County, and Starbucks’ 10-K gives no store counts by state or county.

Tea and hot water: what other cases show

Beverages were 73 percent of sales at Starbucks’ company-operated stores in fiscal 2025, and several reported burn cases involve tea or plain hot water rather than coffee.

• Garcia, Los Angeles. Three venti “medicine ball” teas at a drive-thru, one of which spilled into the driver’s lap. A jury awarded $50 million in March 2025. Starbucks said it would appeal, but the case settled in June 2025 and was dismissed in July 2025; the terms were not made public (LASC case summary). See Garcia v. Starbucks.
• Piluyev, Roseville. Two Honey Citrus Mint Teas; he says a lid came off during the drive-thru handoff. Starbucks said its own 2018 investigation found the handoff successful.
• Cha, Portland, Oregon. A cup of hot water served in November 2017 allegedly had no lid or an ill-fitting one, and the burns needed skin grafts. Starbucks said the customer asked for hot water with her coffee “and our partners obliged in providing it to her safely.”

Starbucks disputed each account, and each turns on the cup, the lid and who was holding what. None of the sources we checked gives a Starbucks serving temperature for its stores. Our page on Starbucks tea and hot water burns goes deeper.

Saving the evidence from a counter pickup

Not every burn happens at the window. If you were burned inside a Bakersfield store, at the handoff counter or at a table, save the cup, the lid and any sleeve or second cup the drink came in. Write down which counter you were at and what the employee said, keep the receipt or app order, and photograph the burn each day. Then ask the store in writing to keep its video, giving the date and time. Waiting is risky: in Felder v. MGM National Harbor, a federal court in Maryland held in 2024 that recording over video on a routine 14-day cycle was not spoliation because the request came too late.

Where a Bakersfield case is filed

The Kern County Superior Court says claims seeking more than $35,000 are filed at the Metropolitan Justice Courthouse, listed as the Metro Justice Building at 1215 Truxtun Avenue. A 2023 standing order also assigned unlimited civil cases to a courtroom at the Metropolitan Traffic Division, 3131 Arrow Street, so check the courtroom on your case notice.

Garcia did not seek punitive damages. See the Starbucks burn injury page for how fault is argued, or the Fresno Starbucks page if you were treated there.

Bakersfield Starbucks burn questions

Is there still a burn unit in Bakersfield?

The Grossman Burn Center at Bakersfield Memorial was scheduled to close on June 30, 2026. Memorial said its emergency department would keep giving immediate burn care, and Kern Medical is a Level II trauma center.

Can I sue over hot water I asked for?

Possibly. Asking for hot water does not mean you accept a loose lid. In Cha, Starbucks said it served the water safely; the evidence about the lid decides who is right.

Does it matter that my tea spilled at the counter and not the drive-thru?

No. The same rules apply. The questions are how the drink was lidded and handed over, and what the video shows.

How long do I have?

Two years in most cases, and six months for a written claim against a public agency.

Call about a Bakersfield Starbucks burn

If you or your child was burned by a Starbucks drink in Bakersfield or elsewhere in Kern County, call Beverly Law at (310) 552-6959 for a free, confidential review in English or Spanish. We can talk by phone or video, even if you are being treated out of town. More is on our burn injury lawyer page. You owe no fees or costs unless we win.

Related pages

Burn Injury Lawyer

Important: This page is general information, not legal or medical advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different; talk to a lawyer about yours. Texas cases are handled by the firm’s Texas-licensed attorneys, Joyce Ondich and John Efstathiou. Last reviewed: November 6, 2026.