A pregnant flight attendant has filed a lawsuit against a coffee company after she suffered severe burns when a “malfunctioning” coffee maker exploded and spewed boiling water and grounds all over her. On March 27, attorneys for Alaska Airlines’ Victoria Waldron filed a civil complaint against Stumptown Coffee Corp. in the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
The lawsuit accused the coffee company of supplying a defective product to the airline, which led to Ms. Waldron’s injuries, and of failing to warn about potential dangers, despite several similar accidents with Stumptown’s product. The court filing says that on April 1, 2024, Ms. Waldron was working on an Alaska Airlines flight bound for Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, Arizona, when, just 30 minutes before landing, she was brewing a custom coffee blend supplied by Stumptown, designed for drinking at altitude, the complaint says.
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The incident occurred on an Alaska Airlines flight to Arizona on April 1, 2024 (Image: Getty)
The lawsuit says this happens when “an onboard coffee maker in an aircraft galley suddenly and without warning fails catastrophically, causing hot coffee, coffee grounds and boiling water to be expelled with explosive force.” “(Waldron) expelled hot fluid and was hit by the ground, causing immediate and severe burns to his chest and other areas of his body.”
The injuries were extremely painful, and left the pregnant flight attendant fearing for her unborn child, with the filing saying that Ms. Waldron now has permanent scarring and persistent “heat rash.” The civil complaint also states that Waldron will require continued dermatology treatment and may require cosmetic surgery for the lesions.
In the filing, Ms. Waldron’s lawyers argued that their client’s injuries could have been prevented because there were ample indications that Stumptown’s coffee mix was defective and at risk of exploding. The coffee company signed a deal to supply custom coffee blends to major US airlines through 2023 and began delivering the product on December 1 of that year.
The filing said there was substantial indication that Stumptown’s coffee blend was defective and in danger of exploding. (Image: Alaska Airlines)
The civil complaint states that Stumptown had tested its custom coffee blend for taste at altitude, but had not adequately adjusted or tested its packaging design for the low-pressure environment of the aircraft cabin. The complaint alleges that the packaging, which was designed for use at sea level, was caused to “behave in a physically dangerous manner” due to the low-pressure environment as well as the unique heat cycle of commercial brewing equipment on planes.
The lawsuit claimed that Stumptown knew, or should have, about the issue with its product because the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) published a statement on February 20, 2024 – less than three months after adopting the blend – stating that at least nine flight attendants had been burned by exploding coffee on Alaska Airlines flights.
The AFA statement highlighted that Stumptown’s packaging was the “suspected” cause of the sudden increase in injuries, as Alaska Airlines had recently begun using the company’s mix instead of the mix produced by Starbucks, whose packaging type, material, structure and pressure tolerances, the lawsuit said, “materially differ from the product it replaces (…)”.
The Stumptown coffee product replaced the coffee product produced by Starbucks in 2023 (Image: Alaska Airlines)
The civil complaint states that despite the signs, “Stumptown took no corrective action, issued no warnings to Alaska Airlines, issued no product recalls and continued to supply the same packaging to Alaska Airlines without modification.” The lawsuit does not specify the amount of money he is seeking from Stumptown, although it notes it will be more than $75,000 (£56,300).
Waldron’s lawyers will seek damages for their client’s ‘physical pain and suffering’ as well as his burns, bruises, emotional distress, medical expenses, lost earnings and legal fees. The complaint demanded a jury trial. Stumptown has not yet responded to any of the allegations in court.
Express has contacted Stumptown Coffee Corp for comment.
