Pepsi Loses $1.26 Billion Law Suit in Default Judgment
Misplaced Paperwork Could Cost PepsiCo More Than a Billion Dollars in the Suit
The suit itself stems from two men claiming that they presented PepsiCo with the idea to sell purified water. These two men are Charles Joyce and James Voigt, who had met with the company to discuss the idea. The allegation was that PepsiCo then turned around and used those ideas to develop and sell Aquafina bottled water, which has made billions as an additional brand name under PepsiCo. Now PepsiCo is scrambling around trying to figure out just what went wrong, and arguing that because they weren't properly served with the law suit that they should not have to pay the default settlement.
PepsiCo is going to have to argue well in order to get this case thrown out of court, and it's hard to believe that a judge would simply overturn a default judgment based on the real reasoning PepsiCo is giving. According to an article written by Lynne Marek of The National Law Journal, a secretary at PepsiCo had information about the law suit, but didn't pass it on because she was too busy when it came to her desk. This is a huge red flag that could burn PepsiCo in the end, and there certainly isn't going to be that much sympathy given to a huge company such as this. A normal person would assume that PepsiCo should get the chance to defend themselves, and that if the employee had done their job the case would still be heard in court. But does that matter at this point, and will a judge agree with what they have to say?
There is a hearing on November 6th to hear what PepsiCo has to say about the judgment and why they didn't show up to court, and you can bet that PepsiCo is going to pull out any law trick they can think of to get this suit thrown out of court. You can't really blame them for attempting anything they can to get it tossed, but at the same time, one can't help but wonder if they did steal someone else's idea along the way. All eyes will be on the courts come November 6th, because a settlement of this amount could re-shape how the entire system deals with default judgments. No matter how this turns out, somebody is losing their job.
Source: Lynne Marek Article
Published by Ryan Christopher DeVault - Featured Contributor in Sports
Born in Seattle, Washington, I am a 31 year old college graduate working in the field of Education and Research. I am also a professional freelance writer and news content provider. I can be reached at... View profile
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11 Comments
Post a CommentEveryone saying Pepsi shouldn't be punished because one person failed to do her job, let me ask you:
What do you think would happen if an individual person tried to use the argument that they "misplaced the paperwork"?
That's right, the judge would say "too bad".
If corporations want the same legal rights as individuals, they have to accept the same legal responsibilities. That means Pepsi is out $1.26 billion.
This is ridiculous. The secretary receives thousands of lawsuits a year and probably misplaced this one. While I think she should be fired, I think alleging a conspiracy between her and the plaintiffs is a bit of a stretch. I hope the case is thrown out. Had the plaintiffs really been cheated (the idea of putting water in a bottle is not novel), they should have filed suit within the 3 year period allowed by law.
I realize that the judge is within the law to grant summary judgement, but $1.26 billion for the idea of selling WATER? WTF? Yeah, I'm sure nobody had thought of that. Although there are several commenters speculating about the secretary "conspiring" with the litigants, I'd be more concerned about the judge. C'mon, judges are supposed to be open-minded, but not to the point that their brains fall out!
lol! Retain the judgement. It will affect the cost equation of under-staffing at global corps in a positive way. It also avoids the frightening precedent that companies will be able to ignore correspondence and plead ignorance in the future.
I would like it very much if Pepsi had to pay this.
Want to see how this turns out.
Fascinating indeed
AH HA HA HA HA HA!
But seriously, Statute of Limitations. Injury would've occurred years ago. If the judge buys Pepsi's excuse, there is no case.
I agree with Dylan, this is clearly a scam set up between the "secretary" and the two men filing this lawsuit!
Misplaced paperwork...right...
Let's think about this folks. Why would the courts be seeing this case now if apparently this rip-off occurred in 1981? It is clear that the secretary who "misplaced" the legal notice was working for the two men who filed the lawsuit. They had planned this for years.
It took the secretary almost 28 years to earn her position at PepsiCo. After she had established a reputable connection with the company, she had the men file their lawsuit, and she hid the notice that she received.