The family of a five-year-old has sued a Lake Tahoe ski resort after “far too hot” cocoa left the child with severe burns, according to a lawsuit.
The incident happened two winters ago when Brittany Burns and Joshua Moran Burns of San Francisco visited Heavenly Mountain Resort with their five-year-old daughter, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Wednesday, citing a lawsuit filed in El Dorado County Superior Court.
After Brittany ordered a hot chocolate for her daughter at the resort’s Sky Deck cafe, the cashier filled up a to-go cup and slid the lid-less drink across the take-out window counter “directly to” the child, according to the lawsuit.
The five-year-old picked up the beverage and tried to drink it, but it was allegedly too hot. The Burns family said the beverage was served at an “excessively and unnecessarily hot temperature.”
According to the lawsuit, the girl ended up “spilling the hot chocolate beverage inside her ski suit.”
The lawsuit said the hot chocolate was “far too hot for consumption and dangerous, especially to minors,” and claims serving such a beverage to a child is considered conduct that was “known, intentional, malicious, and without due care for the likelihood of injury.”
The hot chocolate caused “bad burns down her chest and abdomen,” the Burns’ attorney, Roger Dreyer said, per the San Francisco Chronicle.
Dreyer said the girl has permanent scars from the incident.
Vail Resorts, which owns Heavenly, told The Independent it was “unable to comment on pending litigation.” The Independent has also reached out to the family’s attorney for comment.
The Burns family is seeking compensation for damages, including medical expenses, past and future mental suffering and “loss of enjoyment in life.”
In a similar case, a California delivery driver was awarded $50 million in March 2025 after reportedly being seriously burned by a Starbucks drink that had spilled in his lap in February 2020.
Michael Garcia’s lawyers claimed a Starbucks employee didn’t secure the drink firmly enough into a cardboard tray at the drive-thru, according to reports.
Starbucks reportedly said at the time that it planned to appeal the case. The company said in a statement shared by the media, “We sympathize with Mr. Garcia, but we disagree with the jury’s decision that we were at fault for this incident and believe the damages awarded to be excessive.”
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