Dive Brief:

• A federal court threw out a lawsuit by Monster Beverage Corporation that sought to block a potential San Francisco lawsuit forcing it to change its drinks, packaging and marketing.
• The suit was filed in response to San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera's March 20 threat to file suit against the company for promoting over-consumption and targeting minors, some of who he said were as young as 6.
• Monster fired back with its own lawsuit, claiming Herrera was seeking publicity and that his claims were not scientifically backed since the FDA has never disputed its ingredients as generally recognized as safe.

Dive Insight:

This is the latest bad news for the energy drink sector in a year that has seen plenty of it. Monster also argued that it never marketed the drinks to kids and that those drinks contain less than half the caffeine-per-ounce of a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Ultimately, Judge Virginia Phillips also disagreed that the issue was for the FDA and not a state judge. State litigation filed May 6, People v. Monster, will now move forward as a result of the decision.