Woman takes legal action against restaurant for injuries caused by barbecue sauce

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The Bill Miller Bar-B-Q restaurant where Genesis Monita claims she suffered second-degree burns from overheated barbecue sauce (Google Maps).

A 19-year-old woman in Texas is suing a barbecue restaurant chain, alleging that the barbecue sauce on her breakfast taco was so hot that it caused her to suffer second-degree burns on her legs when she spilled her food in her lap.

Genesis Monita was in court this week as she seeks more than $1 million in damages from Bill Miller Bar-B-Q Enterprises over her alleged injuries.

In a claim reminiscent of the 1992 lawsuit known as the “hot coffee” case, in which spilled coffee from the fast-food giant caused a 79-year-old woman to endure third-degree burns — and is often misunderstood as being frivolous — Monita asserts that the sauce used by the local food chain was “dangerously hot” when it fell in her lap and burned her leg.

Monita on the morning of May 19, 2023, was accompanied by her sister when she went to the Bill Miller BBQ in the 8800 bock of SW Loop 410 in San Antonio, Texas, local Fox affiliate KABB reported. The two ordered breakfast a total of four breakfast tacos from the restaurant drive-thru and, after getting their food, pulled into the establishment’s parking lot to eat.

As Monita began to eat, she reportedly claims she took out a container of the barbecue sauce, but it was so hot that she dropped the container, spilling the barbecue sauce onto the upper portion of her right thigh and causing her to suffer second-degree burns.

During opening arguments on Wednesday, Monita’s attorney, Lawrence Morales II, told jurors that the sauce served to his client was more than 20 degrees hotter than it was supposed to be, according to a report from the San Antonio Express-News.

“Bill Miller’s unequivocal policy is they will serve their sauce at 165 degrees,” he reportedly said. “Bill Miller violated their safety policy and allowed their barbecue sauce to heat up to a dangerous 189 degrees.”

Monita also claimed that the sauce was served to her in a small plastic cup rather than a heavier foam container, which would have been far better insulated than the plastic cup.

Barry McClenahan, the restaurant chain’s attorney, told the court that Bill Miller policy is not to serve their sauce at 165 degrees, but at a minimum of 165 degrees as required by food safety rules, the Express-News reported. The restaurant does not have a policy against heating the sauce hotter than 165 degrees, he reportedly said.

McClenahan argued that Monita’s own negligence was the primary cause of her injuries, reportedly claiming that she had eaten the sauce “a hundred times” and that each time she did it was “the same temperature.

“At Bill Miller’s, the sauce is always hot, and our customers know that. And that’s why it’s hot,” he said. “What would we have warned Ms. Monita of that she did not already know?”