George Toubbeh is suing Heineken and a grocery store chain after he found two dead geckos in the bottom of his beer can.
The California resident claims that he suffered several physical ailments and still has anxiety after finding the lizards at the bottom of his drink.
via NYDN:
The episode began on Aug. 7, 2015, when Toubbeh bought a 24-ounce can of the Dutch beer from a Ralphs supermarket in Fountain Valley, Calif.
Toubbeh noticed the Heineken had a “foul taste” as he downed it, the lawsuit said. He started to throw up immediately after.
His daughter looked inside the can, where she saw the two young leopard geckos, according to the filing. The reptiles are native to northern India, Afghanistan and Asia’s highlands.
“When discovered, the geckos had not been decomposed at all and were likely alive when the beer was poured and sealed into the cans in the bottling and/or canning facility,” according to the lawsuit, filed in Orange County Superior Court last Friday.
Toubbeh went to the emergency room after he became “violently ill,” the lawsuit says.
Doctors gave him prescriptions for Xanax and Zofran, which prevents nausea and vomiting, and told him to come back if the ailment continued.
It did.
Toubbeh went to an Urgent Care on Aug. 9, 2015, with “severe stomach pains and cramps, loss of sensation, hyperactive bowel movements, and nearly complete loss of appetite.”
He also had “extreme anxiety” and post-traumatic stress disorder from finding the dead lizards in his beer, the suit said.
Along with Heineken, the lawsuit names Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., which owns the Ralphs grocery store chain, and an unknown beer distributor.
The court filing accuses the company of being negligent, and said Toubbeh continued to suffer gastrointestinal and stress — missing weeks of work.
He’s seeking an undisclosed amount for his lost work wages, medical bills and general damages.
Heineken USA, the stateside subsidiary of the beer giant, didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
But it denied the allegations in a statement to the Los Angeles Times, saying the company “holds the safety and integrity of the products we import to the highest standards. We have investigated this isolated claim, and based on a number of factors, we confidently believe there is no merit to this claim.”
We would be scarred for LIFE.
