Lawsuit claims Starbucks purposely overfills its cold beverage cups with ice

(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

last updated 2 May 2016

An Illinois woman is suing Starbucks on behalf of all customers whose cups runneth over with ice.

Stacy Pincus filed a class action lawsuit last week in Northern Illinois Federal Court, court documents say, claiming that so much ice is put into cold drinks that Starbucks customers are cheated out of liquid and paying for more product than what they actually receive. "The word 'beverage' is defined as a 'drinkable liquid,'" the suit says. "Ice is not a 'beverage' by definition. Accordingly, Starbucks actually gives the customer much less beverage in the cold drinks they order and pay for."

The lawsuit maintains that the cups are filled with extra ice so Starbucks can make more money "to the detriment of consumers who are misled by Starbucks' intentionally misleading advertising practices." Pincus says the suit is on behalf of any customer who has purchased a cold drink from Starbucks within the past decade, NBC News reports, and it also offers Starbucks a free suggestion: Start using bigger cups so the advertised amount of liquid can be served, along with the ice. Starbucks told TMZ if a customer isn't pleased with the drink they receive they can ask for a new one, but their guests "understand and expect that ice is an essential component of any 'iced' beverage.'"

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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