Monster Drink Contents Wrongful Death Lawsuit Goes to Trial

Los Angeles, CAAs the latest Monster Energy Drink Deaths and Hospitalizations trial is about to get underway, it is perhaps an appropriate time to revisit the life and the subsequent death of the young girl behind the headlines.

Anais Fournier was just 14 when she skipped over to the local mall in the community where the Fournier family called home, Hagerstown in Maryland. It was December 16, 2011 and just a few weeks before Christmas. While at the mall, Anais stopped into a candy store and picked up a 24-oz. energy drink under the Monster Energy brand.

The following day, December 17, the young teen returned to the mall for another can of Monster drink contents - another 24-oz. container. At some point that day, probably later afternoon or early evening, Anais consumed the contents, only to go into cardiac arrest later that evening at 8:55 pm and fell unconscious.

Rushed to the hospital, the 14-year-old was later placed in a medically induced coma in order to help reduce swelling in her brain. Anais remained on life support until December 23, when her parents had to make the decision no parent should have to make - to terminate life support and say good-bye to their 14-year-old daughter two days before Christmas.

Anais, after suffering the heart attack, never regained consciousness. The official cause of her death was listed as “cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity.”

In other words, monster caffeine levels either caused or contributed to her death. A wrongful death lawsuit, brought by her parents, goes to trial this month.

Advocates of the energy drinks maintain that caffeine found in the products is not much more than that found in a cup of strong coffee. Potentially, say critics. But coffee is a hot beverage and is meant to be sipped; whereas teens and young adults appear to favor more rapid consumption, often guzzling an entire can whole. Thus the caffeine hit is instantaneous. What’s more, various other non-caffeinated ingredients in the drinks have been known to mimic the effects of caffeine, intensifying the reaction even further.

The Monster Energy Drink Injury and Wrongful Death lawsuit brought by the Fournier family and set to go to trial this month alleges the two Monster energy drinks that Anais consumed over those two fateful days in December 2011 contained a total of 480 milligrams of caffeine, identified as equal to that contained in fourteen, 12-oz. cans of Coca-Cola.

What’s more, the lawsuit references other ingredients contained in Monster energy drinks - namely taurine and guarana, the latter a plant extract that contains caffeine. Taurine, it is alleged, affects cardiac muscles.

The Monster drink contents lawsuit is brought by Wendy Crossland and Richard Fournier v. Monster Beverage Corporation in the state of California, County of Riverside.