O.C. Man Sues Heineken, Says He Found Two Geckos Inside His Beer

Some people aren't into the taste of Heineken, which Deadspin describes as "almost always skunky-tasting"—the publication posits that this is because the green bottles, as compared to brown bottles, do a bad job of blocking UV light, which deteriorates beer.

One Orange County man now claims that he got something more than poor flavor. As reported at the OC Register, George Toubbeh has filed a lawsuit against Heineken for what he claims were two geckos found in a can of beer.

The suit says that Toubbeh had bought the beer from a Ralphs, and that he'd noticed a "foul taste" upon drinking it sometime in August of 2016. He then "immediately" experienced abdominal pain and vomiting, which necessitated a trip to the emergency room.

(Photo courtesy of the law firm of DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo)
The suit claims that his daughter checked the can after he'd gotten sick and found two juvenile leopard geckos inside. “When discovered, the geckos had not been decomposed at all and were likely alive when the beer was poured and sealed into the cans in the bottling and/or canning facility,” says the lawsuit. "Based upon information and belief, the subject geckos likely got into the HEINEKEN canning facility and into a can before before the HEINEKEN beer was poured and the top was sealed onto the subject can."

The suit adds that Toubbeh continued to suffer from "gastrointestinal ailments, emotional distress, trauma, and anxiety," adding that he also suffers from PTSD now.

As noted at Business Insider, Toubbeh is asking that Heineken, Kroger, and local distributors pay for his medical expenses, for the work he'd missed while he was recovering, and for other damages.

Heineken released a statement saying there's no basis to Toubbeh's claims: "HEINEKEN USA holds the safety and integrity of the products we import to the highest standards. We have investigated this isolated claim and based on a number of factors we confidently believe there is no merit to this claim."

John Montevideo, an attorney for Toubbeh, told the OC Register that his team had hired a zoologist to verify the claim. “We truly believe that he is credible, and we have done the independent investigation to verify what they were and their condition,” Montevideo said of the geckos.