Vital Pharmaceuticals (VPX), the former owners of the Bang Energy brand, have been ordered to pay the legal fees of Monster Beverage Corp. from their court dispute last year.
Monster was awarded $293m in damages last year after a California jury ruled rival Bang Energy falsely advertised the ingredients and health benefits of its drinks.
VPX filed for bankruptcy in October last year. In July, Monster bought “substantially all of Bang Energy’s assets” in a deal worth $362m. The acquisition included a production facility in Phoenix, Arizona.
VPX was denied a retrial of the case last month and ordered to pay Monster’s $20.9m attorney fees, plus more than $22m in other damages. The legal fees and additional damages bring VPX’s total liability to $336m, although it is unclear how much will in fact be paid.
The extra costs were awarded due to the “strength” of Monster’s case and, referring to Bang founder Jack Owoc, the “unreasonableness of [the] defendant’s behavior”, which the court called “exceptional”.
In the ruling, U.S. District Judge Jesus Bernal called out the actions of former VPX owner Jack Owoc. “Mr. Owoc refused to cooperate at times and displayed a disrespect for the judicial process,” Bernal said.
The judge said Owoc repeatedly tried to submit documents the court had excluded and refused to answer straightforward questions during cross-examination.
“He berated Monster’s counsel and the court had to instruct the jury to disregard any disparaging remarks this witness has made against opposing counsel. According to Monster’s counsel, Mr. Owoc contradicted his prior sworn testimony numerous times and Monster’s counsel impeached him over 50 times,” Bernal’s ruling stated.
When Monster acquired Bang, Rodney Sacks, Monster’s CEO, said the company would cut products from the recently acquired range. “Our intention is to rationalise Bang’s product offerings and product lines and to fully integrate Bang into the Monster infrastructure. We do not intend to manufacture or sell Bang’s other product lines such as Red Line or Shots beyond liquidating existing inventories at this time. We may consider reintroducing certain of those product lines sometime in the future.”
