Hueston Hennigan prevailed at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, persuading the judges to uphold the firm’s $311 million false advertising trial judgment and permanent injunction against Vital Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (VPX) and its former owner and CEO Jack Owoc. Allison Libeu argued the matter before the panel.
In 2022, the firm obtained a $293 million jury verdict for Monster in a high-profile lawsuit involving claims of false advertising, tortious interference and trade secrets theft against VPX—the third-largest energy drink manufacturer in the U.S.—and Owoc. It is believed to be the largest Lanham Act award in history.
The jury found VPX and Owoc falsely advertised the alleged “Super Creatine” ingredient in VPX’s billion-dollar Bang energy drink. The jury awarded $272 million against both Owoc and VPX for false advertising and another $21 million against VPX itself for tortious interference and trade secrets theft. In its post-trial judgment, the court added over $43 million in attorneys’ fees, expenses and prejudgment interest to the jury’s award, with over $39 million of that tacked onto the false advertising claim against Owoc and VPX.
In addition to Ms. Libeu, the appellate team included John Hueston, Moez Kaba, Sourabh Mishra, Justin Greer and Christopher Galeano.
The circuit’s ruling garnered press including in Bloomberg Law and Reuters Legal.