Judge Rules Man Can Take Suit Against Coca-Cola to Court

VAN NUYS —  A man who claimed he became violently ill and was hospitalized after drinking a bottle of Coca-Cola has the right to have a jury decide his case, a judge has ruled.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Ernest George Williams rejected the soft drink giant’s claim that it cannot be responsible because it only produces syrup for distributors who mix and bottle the popular soft drink.

Alfonso Montepeque, 33, of North Hollywood purchased a 12-ounce bottle of Coca-Cola from a catering truck at work in 1991, according to his lawsuit. The first sip told him this was not the same concoction that is supposed to make him enjoy life, according to his lawyer.

The Guatemalan-born man sued the company in April, 1992.

The soft drink, which according to the lawsuit was believed to have been bottled in Mexico, made him so ill that he coughed up blood and was hospitalized at Olive View Medical Center in Van Nuys.

The soda was laced with a fungus, said Albert Coombes, Montepeque’s attorney.

Montepeque already has reached settlements worth “several thousand dollars” with Eagle Catering, a North Hollywood mobile catering company, and Nostalgia Products Corp., a defunct Los Angeles-based soft-drink distributor, Coombes said.

But Coca-Cola has so far refused to accept responsibility for Montepeque’s physical- and emotional-injury claims, relying on the liability argument that has been accepted in product liability cases in at least three states, Coombes said.

An attorney for Coca-Cola disputed Montepeque’s claim.

“We feel that they have the wrong party here,” said Michael Brown. “If anything, it was a bottling problem,” in which Coca-Cola has no part.

But Coombes said: “What bothers me is that all of us buy that drink and we think it’s Coca-Cola, and it’s horrifying to think that when you buy it you may not be drinking Coke.”

Williams set a Dec. 6 trial date.