May 21, 2016, 2016  | Julia Becerra

I am suing America, and so can you!   Two things you can do to make money without working.

• Think of a “good” lawsuit idea
• Find a law firm that is looking for free social media publicity

Early this month, I read in the news that Starbucks was being sued by a woman from Illinois on the grounds of putting too much ice on her iced coffee. http://time.com/4313915/starbucks-lawsuit-iced-coffee-ice/)

The class action lawsuit  filed by Stacy Pincus demands for a payment of $5 million dollars in damages for what I imagine to be the “pain and suffering” that a customer may go through when he/she realizes that there is an extra ice cube on the iced beverage.

There are a few interesting items for discussion; for one, how to determine what is the expected or valid amount of ice in an iced drink.  When and how does a customer and a barista get to agree on the perfect formula for the iced coffee? .  Should Starbucks and the other food places that offer iced beverages list the recipe I.e., 4 cubes of ice, one cup of coffee, 1/4 cup milk, and sugar optional.  One option though would be to forego the ice completely, like Europeans do, and just stick the coffee in the fridge until it cools off;  keep it longer in the fridge until the desired  degree of coldness is achieved.

Now let’s look at the complain itself. The complaint says: “The word ‘beverage’ is defined as ‘a drinkable liquid.’ 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.” So another question arises: is ice plus a liquid a beverage?  When does the melted ice accounts for the beverage equation?

Another question might be, why do Americans love ice so much?  Is that love opening an opportunity for a new wave of lawsuits or new legal norms regarding the amount of ice to be served with a drink?

Europeans are far protected from something like this happening, for one thing, they do not use ice in their beverages; when in Europe, one could spend hours looking for a place that can serves a glass of juice with a few cubes of ice in it.

In  USA, a country that is well known for its love for ice itself, it seems that now has gotten to the point where that love needs to be measured, converted to a formula and perhaps be added to a food label or in this case added on the Starbucks iced coffee cup.

One other bizarre thing about this whole law suit and probably the reason why I ended up writing about it in the first place, it’s the whole concept of suing anybody for anything; not to mention the unbelievable amount of money that is demanded in this type of lawsuits.

It is totally ridiculous to see how people that have been seriously wronged let’s say for example as a result of a car accident or something like that, have to wait for years to get literally pennies and when lucky a few thousand dollars for their long term body damage, while somebody can sue, get a lot of press and a lot of money for either getting the coffee too cold or by having it served too hot.

While it it true that the lawsuit against McDonald’s in 1994 had a merit to it, and that thanks to it the coffee chain serves its coffee at a healthier temperature, and it is also true that most fast food companies exceed in the amount of ice in their effort to squeeze more out of their beverages in detriment of customers money; it is also clear that the clients have more saying in the amount of ice to be served when ordering a beverage. A verbal request for more or less ice is usually accommodated.

In North America, when going to a restaurant and ordering water, a coke, a cranberry juice or any drink, the waiter most likely is going to add ice to the glass; just imagine if we choose to sue all restaurants for adding ice or for not adding enough of it.  That would be a lot of money in somebody’s pockets and a lot of time invested by the justice system working on addressing such lawsuits.

So if you are thinking of a good opportunity to make good bucks in exchange for little work, just do two simple things:

• Come up with a bizarre item to create a lawsuit
• Find a lawyer that is willing to put it through and pocket some money in the process.

I am actually working on a Dunkin’ Donuts class action lawsuit for putting too much cream cheese on my bagel.   Dunkin’ Donuts should have known that I am trying to control the amount of daily calories I put into my body.  Let me know if you want to be included in this action lawsuit.  I intent to represent everyone who ever purchased a bagel with cream cheese from the coffee chain over the last 15 years!    Follow me on twitter @jbradiant