SANTA ANA, Calif. (CN) – An Orange County, California, man sued Heineken and The Kroger Co. Friday, claiming he became violently ill after drinking from a beer can with two geckos inside.
In a lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court, George Toubbeh says he bought the 24-ounce cans of the beer from a Fountain Valley, California, Kroger and opened the cans at home in August 2015.
After drinking the foul-tasting beer, he says he had severe abdominal pain, vomited and became violently ill.
“Plaintiff's daughter examined the contents of the Heineken can that her father was drinking from and found two geckos in the Heineken beer can,” Toubbeh says in the lawsuit. “The animals have been identified as juvenile leopard geckos (Eublepharis macularius), a species that is not indigenous to the United States.”
Toubbeh says that the geckos were not decomposed and that he believes they were probably still alive when a Heineken facility poured beer into the can and sealed it.
Doctors discharged Toubbeh with Xanax and Zofran, but he returned two days later suffering from “severe stomach pains and cramps, loss of sensation, hyperactive bowel movements, and nearly complete loss of appetite,” according to the complaint.
“He also suffered from extreme anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder,” the 10-page lawsuit says.
Toubbeh seeks damages on claims of strict product liability, negligence, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
He is represented by John Montevideo with the Santa Ana, California, firm DiMarco Araujo Montevideo.
Courthouse News has reached out to Kroger and Heineken for comment.
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