BOULDER CITY (KTNV) — The family of a Boulder City business owner has filed a new lawsuit against the Henderson-based company Real Water, claiming that their drinking water led to the death of Milo Hurst.
Hurst was the well-known founder of Boulder City's Milo's Cellar and Inn.
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According to the lawsuit, Hurst didn't think that his injuries were connected to Real Water until he saw a news article in June 2024 and he told his daughter what had happened.
He passed away from severe liver injuries on Nov. 22, 2024.
Real Water used "inexpensive, publicly subsidized, treated, safe and alkaline potable water supplied by the Southern Nevada Water Authority, which is drawn from the tap at its Clark County, Nevada facilities, before it processes the water, labels it, and distributes it."
The lawsuit states that normally, alkaline water is manufactured in three steps.
- Run municipal water through an ionization machine to produce purified water with a total dissolved solids no greater than ten parts per million.
- Mix concentrate with selected alkaline materials into the purified water.
- Test the resulting water with an ORP (oxygen reduction potential) meter, which measures electrons in the water, and add more concentrate if negative ORP readings are low or add water if ORP readings are positive or higher than the desired negative ORP state.
The lawsuit claims that Real Water had multiple flaws in their production process at plants in Henderson and Mesa, Arizona, including using an old ionization machine, an unknown concentrate mix, and faulty measurements, which led to at least 70 people suffering severe liver damage.
According to the lawsuit, there were several outbreaks between 2016 and 2020 but that a "superbad outbreak" was in October 2020.
Between November 23, 2020 and December 3, 2020, the Southern Nevada Health District received reports of five cases of acute non-viral hepatitis, resulting in acute liver failure, in infants and children with an unknown cause. All five patients were hospitalized but recovered.
More cases were identified over the coming months and the common link between all of the patients was consuming Real Water alkaline water.
This also prompted investigations by the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
On March 24, 2021, the FDA said Real Water officials were not cooperating with the investigation and that the company had not provided records. The next day, Real Water issued a recall for their products.
The company later issued a statement that reads in part:
We, at Real Water, take the safety of our products and concern for our customer’s health seriously. Real Water takes great strides in every way to make sure our product is safe for consumption. Our goal is to diligently work with the FDA to achieve a swift resolution.
While the potential problem arose in Las Vegas, we are taking proactive steps to stop selling and distributing Real Water products throughout the United States until the issue is resolved.
Real Water is asking that all retailers pull the product from the shelf, effective immediately, and hold it in the back rooms or return it to the distributors.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Real Water in the years since the major outbreak.
In February 2024, a grand jury awarded $130 million in damages in a lawsuit filed by five people and in October 2023, a jury awarded more than $228 in damages to additional plaintiffs, including the family of a 69-year-old woman who died from severe liver failure.
As for the Hurst estate, district court records show that no hearing dates have been scheduled, as of Tuesday.
