JD Journal » pepsico

PepsiCo Sued over Mouse in Mountain Dew

jim — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:31:55 +0000

Mountain Dew, a yellow drink that is packed with caffeine, is consumed by thousands of people each day. The drinkers of the soda will not find out, thanks to a new lawsuit, about what else is in the drink.

The drink’s manufacturer is PepsiCo, which is being sued by Ronald Ball of Wisconsin. Ball claims in a lawsuit back in 2009 that when he opened a can of Mountain Dew that he purchased from a vending machine, something inside the can did not taste right. Ball then claims that he spit out a dead mouse.

The lawsuit documents show that Ball is seeking damages of $50,000 or more. The lawsuit also says that Ball sent the mouse to Pepsi, which ultimately destroyed it.

Pepsi is working to dismiss the case based on testimony from an expert who claims that the acid used to bottle the drink would have caused the body of the mouse to become jelly.

Another ingredient used in Mountain Dew is brominated vegetable oil (BVO), which is banned from use in Japan and Europe, but allowed in small quantities of beverages like Squirt, Fanta Orange, and Mountain Dew.

Former Chairman of Arnold & Porter Joins Davis Polk

sara — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:29:26 +0000

Michael Sohn, former chairman of Arnold & Porter, has joined Davis Polk & Wardwell’s Washington office as general counsel. Sohn joined Arnold & Porter in 1969 and was made a partner in 1972. He left the firm briefly and served for 3 years as general counsel of the Federal Trade Commission beginning in 1977. Sohn served as chairman of Arnold & Porter from 1996 through 2006. Sohn’s former clients include Wyeth, GE, Merck, NASDAQ and PepsiCo in merger investigations before the FTC and Justice Department.

Sohn has handled several high profile deals including the approved $27.2 billion acquisition of Guidant by Boston Scientific and the acquisition of Quaker Oats by PepsiCo. In 2005 the Legal Times named Sohn a “Leading Lawyer” for his “skill as a negotiator and his ability to craft settlements on the eve of a trial.”

Morning Roundup

joshua — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:32:47 +0000

Good Morning everyone! I hope everyone had a terriffic weekend. Here’s a look back at Friday’s news (and a small weekend update) to get your week started.

A judge has vacated the $1.2 billion default judgementagainst PepsiCo…

Cleary Gottlieb announced its year end bonuses…

Greenberg Traurig added five attorneysfrom Ballard Spahr…

and Latham & Watkins promoted 23 to partner…

Over the weekend we got an anonymous tip that in addition to letting go of 21 second year associates, Goodwin Procter also laid off around 30 staffers, including secretaries who had been there for over 20 years.

Pepsi off the (1.2 Billion Dollar) Hook

joshua — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 01:25:35 +0000

At the end of last month I blogged about a legal comedy of errors that ended with a default judgement being entered against softdrink maker PepsiCo. If you somehow missed the original story, our take on it can be found here.

If any of you own shares in Pepsi, you can breathe easier… for now at least. A judge in Wisconsin has vacated the summary judgement, giving PepsiCo a chance to argue the case on its merits. No court dates have been set as of yet.

Pepsi Faces $1.2 Billion Default Judgement

joshua — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 16:52:34 +0000

Pepsi Co is the victim of its own bureaucracy in a Wisconsin case that ended in a default judgement earlier this month.

The background is simple enough. Two Wisconsin men sued Pepsi in June for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets from confidential talks and using them to make and sell Aquafina. The men served Pepsi at its North Carolina headquarters. Then things went a bit haywire. Pepsi says that its agent in North Carolina failed to deliver the notice to their legal headquarters in New York until mid September. The papers were delivered to Deputy General Counsel Tom Tamoney, but his secretary set them aside because she was busy preparing for a board meeting. Tamoney didn’t see the papers until early October, after a Wisconsin judge entered a default judgement against the company.

Pepsi has asked the court to vacate the judgement, saying that the suit should be barred based on the Statute of Limitations and claiming that the interests of justice have been violated. Although Wisconsin courts are hesitant to vacate default judgements in general, the judge also has to option to litigate the damages portion of the case.