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Rat head in beer brings lawsuit
San Antonio Express-News ^ | 04/02/2010 | By Moises Mendoza - Houston Chronicle

Posted on 04/02/2010 6:46:58 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd

After a hard day's work on his Crystal Beach home, Everett Johnston just wanted a cold beer. He grabbed a Tecate Light out of his fridge and began to sip. But, Johnston said, something didn't taste quite right. He said his wife looked in the bottle and noticed a rat's head floating inside.

Johnston filed a lawsuit recently in Galveston County against FEMSA Cerveza (CCM), the Mexican maker of Tecate, as well as Heineken, which distributes the beer in the United States, among other defendants. He's citing the severe psychological damage he says he has suffered.

The 59-year-old retired firefighter said Thursday that all he wants is an acknowledgement of his intense suffering — how in the moments after drinking the beer two years ago he wondered whether he would live or die.

“The first thing came to my mind was it was a rodent that had eaten rat poison,” Johnston said.

He remembered a story about a man who drank something contaminated with rat urine and later died.

“I can't explain it,” he said. “That kind of fear was something I had never experienced before.”

In a written statement, Heineken said: “While we cannot discuss the specifics of these claims due to company policies surrounding active litigation, we stand behind the quality of our products and those we distribute. CCM is a world renowned brewer with the highest standards for safety and quality.”

A worker at FEMSA said no one was available to comment Thursday, and a company spokeswoman didn't return an e-mail message.

Johnston said he began vomiting after drinking the beer and went to a hospital where he had X-rays and blood tests. He said he has since saved the contaminated beer in his freezer.

Johnston added that eating out of a can now is traumatizing to him and he has trouble eating when food isn't prepared directly in front of him. He also said his suffering made him incapable of caring for his elderly father-in-law before his death.

Counselors have told Johnston there's not much more they can do for him, yet he said the pain continues to gnaw at him. He said he'll donate anything he wins in the lawsuit to charity.

Johnston's lawyer, Roy Elizondo III, said neither Heineken nor FEMSA has been responsive to his attempts to resolve the matter out of court.

“Some day someone could die from stuff like this,” Elizondo said.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: beer; lawsuit; napl; rat; ratbeer; rathead; tecate; tortreform
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Maybe Tecate has come up with a new brand?
 



1 posted on 04/02/2010 6:46:58 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: Responsibility2nd

Those resourceful illegals will get across the border any way they can.


2 posted on 04/02/2010 6:48:59 AM PDT by moovova (More coffee please...make it a double.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

My 16th beer last night had a rat head in it too...


3 posted on 04/02/2010 6:49:03 AM PDT by over3Owithabrain
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To: Responsibility2nd
Just another boutique microbrew...
4 posted on 04/02/2010 6:49:18 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Responsibility2nd
Take it back to the Elsenor brewery and they'll give you all the free beer you can drink eh.

Image Hosted by ImageShack.us
5 posted on 04/02/2010 6:49:33 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Remember the River Raisin! (look it up))
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To: Responsibility2nd

I smell a rat.


6 posted on 04/02/2010 6:50:42 AM PDT by jessduntno ( If someone calls me racist, I reply "you are just saying that because I'm white!")
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To: Responsibility2nd

Stay thirsty, my friend.


7 posted on 04/02/2010 6:50:58 AM PDT by Obadiah (ObamaCare = VA hospitals for everyone)
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To: Responsibility2nd

I cannot comment without getting banned.


8 posted on 04/02/2010 6:51:55 AM PDT by Lazamataz ("We beat the Soviet Union. Then we became them." -- Lazamataz, 2005)
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To: Responsibility2nd

You would think that a rats head would improve the taste of any light beer.


9 posted on 04/02/2010 6:54:06 AM PDT by crazyhorse691 (Now that the libs are in power dissent is not only unpatriotic, but, it is also racist.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

My guess is this guy gets nada, nothing, zip, zero from this. If he has ANY chance in te suit the company would have at the least attempted to engage him in some way.

Seems like this is a 100% unprovable claim on the part of someone looking for a payday.


10 posted on 04/02/2010 6:54:39 AM PDT by 101voodoo
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To: Responsibility2nd

Doug: Ok, uh, we found this mouse in a bottle of Elsinore beer that we bought at your beer store, eh? And we heard that when that happens you get your beer free.

Bob: It’s in the Canadian Criminal Code, eh. Like there’s legal precedence set in cases in law, eh?

Doug: So, like give us our free beer.


11 posted on 04/02/2010 6:54:55 AM PDT by MarkLevinFan (Keep Up the Pressure, America: Flood Congress with Calls, Dial: 877-762-8762 or 202-224-3121)
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To: Lazamataz

I cannot comment without getting banned.

_____________________________

Pssht. You’ve been banned like, what? 15 times already? What’s one more time out?


12 posted on 04/02/2010 6:54:58 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: jessduntno
I smell a rat.

*sniff, *sniff* LOL!

13 posted on 04/02/2010 6:55:01 AM PDT by Outlaw Woman (Control the American people? Herding cats would be easier.)
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To: Responsibility2nd

Seems pretty darn unlikely that a rat’s head would just accidently fall into a bottle. Not buyin’ it.


14 posted on 04/02/2010 6:55:29 AM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: Responsibility2nd

That’s weird just last week I found a worm in a bottle of Mezcal


15 posted on 04/02/2010 6:55:33 AM PDT by grjr21
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To: Responsibility2nd

“He also said his suffering made him incapable of caring for his elderly father-in-law before his death.”

...What a total cop out! Sorry this guy is a girly man, or just needed a pansy excuse to lay the In-Law responsibility on some other family memeber.

If I was his wife, I’d throw him out on his rat-bastard a$$.


16 posted on 04/02/2010 6:55:52 AM PDT by nagdt ("speak the truth but leave immediately afterward")
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To: Responsibility2nd

It’s a little early for such research but after a diligent search I found an establishment near home selling Tecate. The first thing I noticed was that the beer comes in a clear bottle- responsible for it’s skunky tang after a little sunlight, but offering a clear view of the corn-and-malt based brew.

I’m going to wrap my research items in brown paper (to keep the sunlight off) and spend the rest of the day on the beach by Good Stuff in Hermosa.


17 posted on 04/02/2010 6:55:55 AM PDT by DBrow
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To: Responsibility2nd; glock rocks; tubebender
“The first thing came to my mind was it was a rodent that had eaten rat poison,” Johnston said.

No, it was a rat that drank too much beer.

18 posted on 04/02/2010 6:56:31 AM PDT by SouthTexas (Congress is out of order!)
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To: Responsibility2nd
ohnston added that eating out of a can now is traumatizing to him and he has trouble eating when food isn't prepared directly in front of him. He also said his suffering made him incapable of caring for his elderly father-in-law before his death.

Counselors have told Johnston there's not much more they can do for him, yet he said the pain continues to gnaw at him.

Oh Barack H Obama! Are you kidding me? What a load. There was this woman once who claimed she found a finger in a bowl of chili at Wendys.

19 posted on 04/02/2010 6:58:58 AM PDT by MichiganConservative (A government big enough to do unto the people you don't like will get to doing unto you soon enough.)
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To: Outlaw Woman

You too? *sniff, *sniff*


20 posted on 04/02/2010 6:59:37 AM PDT by jessduntno ( If someone calls me racist, I reply "you are just saying that because I'm white!")
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