New lawsuit claims Boulder City restaurant owner died from drinking Real Water

The latest in a series of lawsuits against bottled water company Real Water, which was tied to a liver failure outbreak in Southern Nevada, claims the company’s water caused the death of a Boulder City restaurant owner.

Milo Hurst, the founder of Milo’s Cellar &Inn, died at age 71 on Nov. 22, from “serious and catastrophic injuries,” including injuries to his liver, according to his death certificate and the complaint filed on behalf of his estate and heirs in District Court on Feb. 28.

The company behind Real Water, Affinitylifestyles.com Inc., had been based in Las Vegas since 1998 and promoted its product as “the healthiest drinking water available” when it actually contained a toxic chemical used in rocket fuel.

Last year juries delivered multibillion-dollar verdicts against the company, $5 billion in October and $3 billion in June.

Federal court records show the company filed for bankruptcy.

Hurst’s death certificate lists his cause of death as end stage liver disease, due to decompensated liver failure, liver cirrhosis and “unknown etiology.”

At least one other death has been connected to the company’s water, according to a previous suit.

An attorney for Real Water in a pending trial said he was unaware of Hurst’s suit.

Fallout

Real Water’s product caused dozens of cases of liver failure and hospitalizations, according to the Hurst suit. People suffered miscarriages and aborted liver transplants, attorneys said. One person needed emergency brain surgery. Pets died.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration website still carries a warning not to use the product. Real Water is no longer operating, according to the FDA. At least 21 hospitalizations and one death were likely linked to the water, the agency said.

Hurst drank the water because he believed it “did not contain elevated levels of toxins,” the complaint said. It wasn’t until sometime around June that he saw a news article about Real Water and connected his injuries to the product, according to the suit.

William Kemp, who represents Hurst’s estate, described Hurst’s case as “very tragic.” Hurst was unable to get a liver transplant and lived with liver failure for years, he said.

Court records said Hurst bought the water from Terrible Herbst. Terrible’s purchased Real Water from the manufacturer as did Nevada Beverage Co., which also distributed the product to retailers including Terrible’s, according to the lawsuit.

Both companies are also named as defendants. Attorneys for Nevada Beverage did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Terrible’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment either.

A separate Real Water trial is underway this week in District Court.

In opening statements Monday, Kemp, who represents 11 of 13 plaintiffs in the case on trial, said that while Real Water marketed its product as superior to regular water, it was in reality “a poison,” according to a transcript.

Real Water defense attorney Bradley Johnson said in his opening statement Wednesday that the court has already found his client at fault, but a jury will have to determine what the damages are.

He suggested that this was not a case of two extremes.

“There are no plaintiffs in this case that are puppies,” he said. “No plaintiffs in this case who are babies. There’s no defendants who are Nazis or Russians or silly, unknown, mystical creatures.”

According to court documents in the case, some of the victims were small children, including a 7-month-old baby. Five children who were between 2 and 5 years old were transported to Salt Lake City for emergency liver transplants, but did not need them after they drank hospital water and improved, court records said.

Attorneys’ opening statements

Johnson’s opening statement was punctuated by objections and requests for bench conferences, mostly from attorney Robert Eglet, who represents plaintiff Lisa King and presented Real Water as a company that did not tell the truth or follow the law in his opening statement.

Eglet protested after Johnson said, “No one drank water that doubles as rocket fuel.”

The court found the water contained hydrazine, which is rocket fuel, Eglet said.

District Judge Timothy Williams sustained the objection, meaning he agreed with it.

Eglet also objected after Johnson alleged one of the plaintiffs’ experts wanted to gain “notoriety” from the case.

Williams sustained that objection too.

After a lunch break, Eglet complained to the judge outside the jury’s presence about Johnson’s opening, saying it improperly veered into argument.

“There’s no explanation for this because Mr. Johnson is a very experienced trial lawyer,” he said. “He’s been trying cases in our jurisdiction for 30 years. So the only thing that you can conclude that what he is trying to do here is to force a mistrial in this case.”

“I don’t know why Mr. Eglet thinks I have it in for him,” Johnson said. “I do not.”

Eglet asked for the judge to give Williams a $50,000 monetary sanction and an admonishment.

Williams said he had considered granting a mistrial. He said he would not issue a monetary sanction but would provide a curative instruction.

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.