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Teen awarded $2.7M after suing Bill Miller restaurant over BBQ sauce that caused second-degree burns

Genesis Monita, 19, has been awarded $2.7 million after she spilled scalding hot barbeque sauce on her thigh in 2023

Madeline Sherratt
Monday 20 January 2025 13:45 EST
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Genesis Monita has been awarded $2.7 million in damages lawsuit
Genesis Monita has been awarded $2.7 million in damages lawsuit (News4)

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A 19-year-old girl has won a monumental million-dollar lawsuit after she suffered second-degree burns from hot sauce in her breakfast taco order.

Genesis Monita, 19, was awarded $900,000, with a further $1.8m in punitive damages Friday on the final day of her trial against popular Texas barbecue restaurant chain Bill Miller, reported Kens5.

The young woman and her sister were on their way to school on May 19, 2023, when they stopped to order breakfast, slathered in the restaurantā€™s famed hot barbecue sauce, in San Antonio ahead of their school day, according to court filings.

She pulled into a parking lot to chow down before the unexpected happened.

Monita was left with severe burns as she took a scalding hot 4-ounce plastic cup of barbeque sauce out from her order bag and dropped it haphazardously onto her thigh.

Her lawyer, Lawrence Morales II, argued it happened because staff violated policy when they failed to serve the sauce in a Styrofoam container, as was typical as per the food chainā€™s safety guidelines.

Crucially, Morales stressed that Bill Millerā€™s policy was to serve their barbeque sauce at a temperature of 165 degrees, and violated critical safety policy when they allowed it to be served at 189 degrees.

Monita and her sister were on their way to school in May 2023, when they stopped to order four breakfast tacos, slathered in BBQ sauce, at Bill Miller in San Antonio (pictured)
Monita and her sister were on their way to school in May 2023, when they stopped to order four breakfast tacos, slathered in BBQ sauce, at Bill Miller in San Antonio (pictured) (Google Maps)

Monita provided local news with images of her wounds at the time that showed severe injury to her skin and deep tissue bleeding on her upper thigh.

The sauce reportedly soiled through her ripped jeans and left a horrific burn to her thigh ā€“ injuries for which the jury agreed to $25,000 as compensation for the surgery as Monita needed to have a scar left by the burn removed, the San Antonio Express-News noted.

On Thursday, Monita and her mother described how the severe burns led to work and school absences plus an onset of loneliness and depression, for Monita who was 18 at the time.

Morales claimed the teen had eaten the sauce previously ā€œa hundred timesā€ and with each time she did, the sauce temperature had remained the same.

In last weekā€™s cross-examination, Bill Millerā€™s attorneys reminded Monita that as soon as they became aware of the incident, the restaurant sent her a check to cover her medical bills, offered to clean her car, and cover any lost wages caused by work absence ā€“ discretions that she reportedly declined, said Fox SA.

ā€œAt Bill Millerā€™s, the sauce is always hot, and our customers know that. And thatā€™s why itā€™s hot.

ā€œWhat would we have warned Ms. Monita of that she did not already know?ā€, McClenahan said Friday as per Law & Crime.

Monita told FoxSA she is yet to receive an apology despite the outcome.

ā€œNo one has ever apologized to me, even to this day, no one has ever apologized to me, you know they just shook my hand, have a good day, but I have not received an apology from them,ā€ she said.

She and her lawyers were happy with the outcome and hoped that the verdict resonated with food establishments on the importance of taking customer safety seriously.

The Independent contacted Monita, her lawyer and Bill Millerā€™s attorney for comment.

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