Hobbsr: Monster Energy Drink Sued (Again)

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Monster Energy Drink Sued (Again)

A new round of lawsuits in Florida claims that Monster Energy Drinks failed to warn consumers that consumption of their caffeine-laden sodas could cause heart attacks, strokes, and kidney failure. While just the latest in a series of injury lawsuits against the energy drink company, the suits filed in Florida this month could be merely the tip of the legal iceberg. The attorneys that filed the five lawsuits say they are investigating over a hundred more.

So who are the plaintiffs in the most recent lawsuits against Monster and what are their injury claims? Here’s a look:

The Effects

The lawsuits were all filed by the same Florida personal injury firm and cover five plaintiffs, including:

Joel Rine, a 43-year-old who drank five or six cans of Monster Energy a day for five years and suffered a stroke;
Robert Grim, a twenty-something who drank four cans of Monster Energy a day for the ten years and needs a kidney transplant; and
John Staten, a 14-year-old student athlete who drank Monster to pump up for wrestling and football practice and suffered a stroke.

Every 16-ounce can of Monster Energy contains 160 mg of caffeine, the equivalent of about four cans of Coca-Cola, and the lawsuits claim habitual consumption of the drinks causes heart attacks, strokes, and kidney and renal failure. The suits also claim Monster failed to provide adequate warnings regarding its potential side effects.

The Cause

Monster was first a “dietary supplement” in an effort to bypass Food and Drug Administration limits on caffeine in soft drinks, then a “beverage” to avoid reporting adverse health effect to the FDA. And the company has battled regulation at every turn. In reference to the latest litigation, Monster Beverage called the claims “a copy-cat case filed by personal injury lawyers … trying to make a cottage industry out of suing energy drink companies.”

Considering the reference to a lawsuit where a 19-year-old died from cardiac arrhythmia after drinking two cans of Monster every day for three years, we’re not sure that’s the best legal argument. Especially when your product has also been linked to at least five other deaths and a spike in emergency room visits.

If you’ve been injured by a dangerous product, you should contact an experienced personal injury attorney near you.

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