Anais Fournier: Alleged Monster Energy Drink Death Leads to SoCal Lawsuit

By Dennis Romero Wed., Oct. 24 2012 at 6:03 AM

Anais.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been made aware of as many as six deaths and 18 hospitalizations that might be linked to drinking the high-caffeine energy drink Monster, which has its corporate offices in Corona. (Monster disputes any links.)

It turns out one of those deaths involved a 14-year-old Maryland girl, Anais Fournier, who was hospitalized after drinking two large cans of Monster.

Her family announced a lawsuit this week against the Southern California makers of the drink:

In a statement sent to the Weekly and other outlets, her family's L.A.-area lawyer, Alexander R. Wheeler, says Fornier was watching a movie at a mall when she suffered a fatal heart attack in December.

A coma was induced but she was taken off of life support after six days, the statement says:

According to the autopsy, the cause of death was caffeine toxicity from an "energy drink."

Anais in the hospital

Fournier's family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last week in Riverside County Superior Court.

A dollar figure wasn't attached to the claim, but the suit says the family seeks "to recover all damages allowed by law for personal injuries suffered by their daughter prior to her death" as well as "all damages allowed by law as a result of the wrongful death of their daughter."

The suit says Anais had two 24-ounce cans of Monster -- the equivalent, it argues, of "fourteen (14) 12-oz. cans of Coca-Cola." One of those Monster cans has 240 milligrams of caffeine as well as guarana (which apparently has more caffeine) and taurine, another energy supplement.

A few hours after her last sip, the suit says, Fournier went into cardiac arrest.

Attorney Wheeler argues that caffeine is known to have been lethal in doses as low as 200 milligrams, and that Monster should know better than to market and sell such high-octane energy products, particularly to kids.

UP NEXT: The full complaint, and claims that Monster has danced around FDA regulation on caffeine by marketing itself as a dietary supplement.

Tags:

caffeine, death, energy drinks, FDA, Four Loko, lawsuit, Riverside County

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anonym

So a 24oz can of monster has 240mg (80mg/8oz). And an average cup of coffee has 80mg/cup (80mg/8oz). One tastes better so they get sued.

r0xah

and marijuana is illegal which wouldn't harm an infant...

dblagbro

I have never and probably never will see a single case of good parents who allow their kids to drink energy drinks before 16 years old... and I'm not holding my breath for that to happen either.

schneidafunk

@dblagbro It's not fair to blame parents. These drinks have no age limit on them like alcohol and any kid can buy them.

sw4rm3d

2 Like

@schneidafunk There's no age limit on lots of bad behaviors that many parents successfully guide their children around. It's perfectly fair to blame the parents, but moreover, the LD50 of caffeine is 192mg per kg, or 8.6 grams for a 100lb individual, or 36 cans of Monster. There's no reason to assume that energy drinks are dangerous to healthy individuals. Maybe there are people who are more sensitive to caffeine, but blaming that on drink makers is like blaming JIF for poisoning someone with a peanut allergy. It makes sense that people want to place blame and eliminate potential threats to their children, but sometimes shtuff happens.