Starbucks Sanctioned for Willful Spoliation in Defect Row
Virginia Beach partner John Lynch and associate David Gettings were mentioned in an April 7 Law360 article about a U.S. District Judge finding that coffee giant Starbucks’ destruction of all but 200 of almost 14,000 patio chairs alleged to be defective was willful destruction of evidence.
The chairs, sold by Kettler International Inc., were destroyed on the advice of Starbucks’ legal team. The company is in a dispute with the chair distributor over the alleged design defects of the product. The judge, presumably punishing Starbucks’ behavior, limited the company’s recoverable damages to the lot of 200 chairs remaining instead of the entire batch sold by Kettler.
John and David represented Kettler in the legal proceedings.