http://www.madisonrecord.com/news/24...ntain-dew-case
PepsiCo granted more time to plead in mouse in Mountain Dew case
12/28/2011 4:45 PM By Christina Stueve
Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth on Dec. 14 continued a case management conference until PepsiCo's motion to dismiss is heard in a lawsuit claiming a mouse was found in a can of Mountain Dew.
The defendant is granted 28 days or until Jan. 11 to answer or otherwise plead the plaintiff's second amended complaint.
A trial had been set to begin Nov. 28, but was vacated in an order signed by Ruth on Nov. 10.
A second amended complaint was filed Nov. 21.
Plaintiff Ronald Ball claims that after opening and beginning to drink soda he purchased from a vending machine at work, he tasted something foul. He claims he spat out the soda to reveal a dead mouse.
The case was filed in 2009.
Earlier this year, Ruth had ordered parties to complete taking depositions before the start of September.
Ball claims he sent the mouse to Pepsi, which destroyed the mouse body.
Ball is seeking damages in excess of $50,000 and other relief.
Pepsi denies Ball's claims, and has moved to dismiss the case.
In support of that move, Pepsi cited expert testimony that the mouse would have dissolved in the soda had it been in the can from the time of its bottling until the day the plaintiff drank it.
Thomas Keefe Jr. and Samantha Unsell represent Ball.
Steven E. Danekas and Cassiday Schade represent PepsiCo.
Madison County case number 09-L-440.
http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/22...e-pepsi-argues
Mt. Dew mouse would be 'jelly-like,' Pepsi argues
BY AMELIA FLOOD
EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (Legal Newsline) The maker of Mountain Dew soft drinks and a man who allegedly got a mouthful of mouse along with his swig of the beverage agreed to move a summary judgment hearing last week.
Plaintiff Ronald Ball and PepsiCo Inc., as well as Pepsi's bottling arm, will appear in a Madison County, Ill., court later this month to potentially argue the move.
Ronald Ball is suing the Pepsi defendants, alleging there was a dead mouse in a can of Mountain Dew he purchased and drank in November 2009.
Ball had also sued the owner of the Shop N'Save chain, but those defendants have since been dropped from his case.
Ball filed his move for summary judgment in March.
In it, Ball cites witness testimony about the dead mouse's presence in his drink and Ball's reaction to it.
Ball also argues that there is no issues of fact and asks for a judgment in his favor on liability.
In its April response, Pepsi counters that Ball has no evidence that the mouse was in the can when it was filled and sealed and before it left their bottler's control.
The company argues it has scientific evidence that the mouse was not in the can when the case was sealed in August 2008 and that a veterinary pathologist examined the mouse, finding that it could not have been in the can that long because its body would have disintegrated due to the acid in the soda.
Pepsi argues that for the mouse to have been in the Mountain Dew that long, the body would have transformed into a "'jelly-like' substance."
The new hearing date is July 28 at 9 a.m.
Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth presides.
Ball is represented by Tom Keefe Jr. and Samantha Unsell.
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