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Orlando Law Firm Sues Monster Energy After 14-Year-Old Has Stroke

Attorneys are calling on the company to place warning labels on its cans. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Attorneys are calling on the company to place warning labels on its cans. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

Orlando-based law firm Morgan & Morgan filed five lawsuits today against the popular energy drink company, Monster. Attorneys say the high-caffeine drink gave a 14-year-old a stroke. They are investigating 100 similar claims of heart attacks and kidney failures in cases involving teenagers and middle-aged adults, ages 17 to 43.

Attorney Mike Morgan blames the company for how it markets the drink.

“It’s extreme athletes. It’s video games. They are targeting our children. They’re going after our kids and getting them hooked.”

The firm is calling on the Food & Drug Administration to require Monster to put warning labels on its cans.

In one suit, a 43-year-old man had a stroke after drinking six cans a day.  Morgan admits the man had too much of the drink. But he says the Food & Drug Administration must require Monster to put all the ingredients and a warning label on the can.

“Most of the vitamins and added benefits that they say they’re putting in exceed daily recommended doses of it, and so, then you add in the proprietary energy blend and you have no idea what you’re drinking.”

The law firm calls it "an industry-wide problem." They liken the drink to alcohol and are urging that it be regulated as such. Morgan & Morgan expects to represent about 1000 plaintiffs against Monster. The firm has opted not to file a class action lawsuit, saying that each case is too different to be tried collectively.

In a written statement, Monster Beverage Corporation says it plans to "vigorously defend" the case, citing that the 43-year-old plaintiff had pre-existing health conditions. The company adds that some of the active ingredients in its energy drinks have been used in infant formula for their nutritional benefits and alleges the lawyers involved in the suit are seeking to "make a cottage industry out of suing energy drink companies."