LAS: Another lawsuit that has been filed states: “Monster Energy Drinks, in fact, contain a dangerously high amount of caffeine that have never been subjected to any kind of pre-market review by any regulatory authority prior to them being put in the stream of commerce.”
KG: Well, there are other class-action lawsuits pending against Monster Beverage Corporation. One class-action lawsuit filed in California alleges that one particular ingredient in Monster Rehab Green Tea + Energy has “a toxic and potentially lethal ingredient” called “epicallocatechin-3-gallate” or ECGC, which has been associated with “dangerous hepatotoxic effects, including without limitation, death, acute liver failure, hepatitis and other liver injuries.”
Our law firm, Goldberg, Finnegan & Mester, LLC, also filed a Monster Energy lawsuit in Washington, D.C., under the District of Columbia Consumer Protection Act’s private attorney general law. This lawsuit alleges, on behalf of the citizens of the District of Columbia, that Monster Beverage Corporation targets teens and improperly implies that its beverages are completely safe. This lawsuit seeks restitution for Washington, D.C. consumers and other equitable relief that will hopefully change Monster’s marketing practices and also change the warning that Monster provides to consumers with regard to the safety of its product.
LAS: And of course, the lawsuit, Case No. RIC 1215551, Wendy Crossland and Richard Fournier, as surviving parents of Anais Fournier v. Monster Beverage Corporation, which was filed in the Superior Court of California for the County of Riverside. It alleges failure to warn about Monster product’s dangers, failure to warn, and negligence in the design, sale and manufacturing of the product.
KG: Anais Fournier’s family hopes that this lawsuit will send a message to energy drink companies that they should stop targeting their marketing to children and that they need to provide a much better warning - including a statement that anyone with an underlying heart condition should not consume energy drinks. We are hopeful that this lawsuit will also help push the FDA and Congress to take a closer look at energy drinks and take whatever measures are necessary to protect the public, and especially our children and teens.
Attorney Goldberg will be appearing pro hac vice in the case, along with Baltimore attorneys Michael Blumenfeld, Michael A. Brown, and Joseph W. Hovermill of Miles & Stockbridge, P.C.
Source: Consumer Reports Magazine, December 2012