OLYMPIA, Wash. (Legal Newsline) — Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced Feb. 8 that a King County judge has ordered the makers of 5-hour ENERGY to pay nearly $4.3 million after multiple alleged violations of the state Consumer Protection Act.
“The makers of 5-hour ENERGY broke the law in pursuit of profit, and now they are paying for it,” Ferguson said.
Living Essentials LLC, the makers of 5-hour ENERGY, allegedly marketed its product with claims it is superior to coffee and that doctors recommend the drink. The defendants also said the product’s decaffeinated formula provides energy that lasts for hours. Judge Beth Andrus ruled the claims were deceptive.
“The defendants spent more time trying to justify the science behind their ads after-the-fact than they did before marketing the products in Washington,” Andrus wrote in her order.
“The court was struck by the fact that defendants presented no testimony from a single scientist actually involved in developing the contents of this product. There was scant evidence as to what science anyone at Living Essentials had ever seen or relied on before it began to sell this product.”