Mountain Dew case set for case management

A case management conference is set in a suit filed by a man who claims he nearly swallowed a dead mouse in his Mountain Dew.

A move for summary judgment in the suit filed by defendant PepsiCo Inc. and its St. Louis-based bottling arm is also pending in the suit.

Plaintiff Ronald Ball is seeking at least $50,000 in damages and costs, claiming he was made sick from drinking the soda that he alleges contained the mouse body.

Ball claims he did not discover the mouse until after he had opened a can of Mountain Dew he purchased at a vending machine at his workplace.

After taking a sip, he spat the soda out, discovering the carcass.

In its summary judgment move, Pepsi cites the opinion of a veterinarian who performed a necropsy on the mouse after Ball sent it to the company in a Mason jar.

The expert concluded that the mouse could not have been sealed in the soda at the time it was bottled because its body would have dissolved into a "jelly-like substance" by the time Ball popped the can's top.

The case management conference is set for 9 a.m. Aug. 25.

Madison County Circuit Judge Dennis Ruth presides.

Ball is represented by Thomas Keefe Jr. and Samantha Unsell.

Other defendants in the case including the owner of the Shop 'n
Save grocery chain, have since been dropped from the case.

The case is Madison case number 09-L-440.