Judge rules lawsuit accusing Starbucks of under-filling lattes can continue

If you’re paying for a big latte, customers seem to want a big latte. Now a judge has approved their suit. This is just one of at least four potential class action suits over underfilled beverages claims that Starbucks is now facing.

The disgruntled California customers, Siera Strumlauf and Benjamin Robles, claim that Starbucks does not put the adequate amount of milk in their lattes, which is the main ingredient that separates a latte from other coffee drinks.

In federal courts from coast to coast, lawyers are accusing Starbucks of serving customers beverages that contain less coffee than promised. “Thus, under no circumstances will Starbucks ever serve a Grande Latte that actually meets the fluid ounces represented on the menu”, the lawsuit states.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Starbucks attempted to dismiss the complaint but the judge rejected it, allowing the case to proceed.

He said that the court deems it probable that a large number of people who regularly drink lattes could believe that a Starbucks grande order contains 16 ounces of the beverage.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson in San Francisco dismissed Starbucks’ efforts to have the case thrown out.

“In the food science community, as well as in the weights and measures community, foam is not measured on a volumetric basis”, the plaintiffs argued in their suit. A Starbucks spokesman said, “We were pleased with the court’s decision to limit the scope of the claims and believe that this lawsuit and the recently-filed similar actions are without merit”.

The plaintiffs’ attorneys did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ request for comment.

One thing we can deduce as these lawsuits come to light is that Starbucks isn’t going to get away with claiming these accusations are “without merit” for much longer.

“Our customers understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any “iced” beverage”.