SAN ANTONIO — San Antonio-based barbecue chain Bill Miller must pay $2.8 million in damages after a jury found that the company was negligent in serving barbecue sauce that gave a woman second-degree burns in 2023.

According to 19-year-old Genesis Monita’s complaint, the sauce was “dangerously hot.”

The incident happened on May 19, 2023, when Monita and her sister went to the Bill Miller drive-thru on Old Pearsall Road and Loop 410 and ordered tacos to eat before school. Monita said the container of barbecue sauce she received with her order was so hot that she dropped it on her thigh, burning her skin. 

A Bexar County jury unanimously found that the injuries Monita sustained were due to Bill Miller’s “gross negligence.” Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before making their decision, according to a report from the San Antonio Express-News.

Monita was awarded $900,000 for past and future mental anguish, physical pain and impairment, $25,225 for medical care costs and $700 for lost earnings. Bill Miller must also pay nearly $1.9 million in punitive damages in addition to the compensatory damages.

At the trial last week, Monita’s lawyer, Lawrence Morales II, argued that the restaurant violated its safety policy by serving the sauce at 189 degrees instead of the standard 165 degrees and by serving the sauce in a plastic container instead of a Styrofoam cup, which insulates heat better.

Barry McClenahan, attorney for Bill Miller, previously said that Monita’s negligence was the “proximate cause” of the incident. He added that serving sauce heated to 189 degrees isn’t prohibited in the company’s safety policy.

Whether Bill Miller will appeal is unclear.

The company was founded in 1953 and operates nearly 80 locations throughout Central and South Texas, the majority of which are in San Antonio.