EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (Legal Newsline) The maker of Mountain Dew soft drinks and a man who allegedly got a mouthful of mouse along with his swig of the beverage agreed to move a summary judgment hearing last week.
Plaintiff Ronald Ball and PepsiCo Inc., as well as Pepsi's bottling arm, will appear in a Madison County, Ill., court later this month to potentially argue the move.
Ronald Ball is suing the Pepsi defendants, alleging there was a dead mouse in a can of Mountain Dew he purchased and drank in November 2009.
Ball had also sued the owner of the Shop N'Save chain, but those defendants have since been dropped from his case.
Ball filed his move for summary judgment in March.
In it, Ball cites witness testimony about the dead mouse's presence in his drink and Ball's reaction to it.
Ball also argues that there is no issues of fact and asks for a judgment in his favor on liability.
In its April response, Pepsi counters that Ball has no evidence that the mouse was in the can when it was filled and sealed and before it left their bottler's control.
The company argues it has scientific evidence that the mouse was not in the can when the case was sealed in August 2008 and that a veterinary pathologist examined the mouse, finding that it could not have been in the can that long because its body would have disintegrated due to the acid in the soda.
Pepsi argues that for the mouse to have been in the Mountain Dew that long, the body would have transformed into a "'jelly-like' substance."
The new hearing date is July 28 at 9 a.m.
Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth presides.
Ball is represented by Tom Keefe Jr. and Samantha Unsell.