Real Water Poisoning: $3.8 Billion Verdict in Alkaline Water Liver Failure Cases

For years, Real Water marketed its alkaline water as 'the healthiest drinking water available.' The company sold the product across Nevada and beyond, built on the promise that its proprietary alkalinization process made water safer and more beneficial to drink. That promise unraveled when a pattern of severe, unexplained liver injuries began appearing among consumers.

The contamination source was hydrazine, a toxic chemical used in jet fuel and rocket propellant. Evidence at trial showed that Real Water's alkalinization process produced hydrazine as a byproduct, and that the company distributed the product anyway. The FDA linked at least 21 hospitalizations and one confirmed death to Real Water before the company agreed to cease operations in 2021. Real Water's parent company, Affinitylifestyles.com, subsequently filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy.

The March 2025 case was the fourth major trial in the Real Water litigation. Thirteen plaintiffs presented their claims to a Clark County District Court jury. Their injuries included acute non-viral hepatitis, autoimmune liver disease, transplant surgery, and in some cases permanent disability. One plaintiff, Lisa King, was among the 60-plus victims whose cases have proceeded through the Nevada courts since litigation began.

Robert Eglet of Eglet Adams tried the case alongside co-counsel Will Kemp of Kemp Jones LLP and Theodore Parker of Parker Nelson Associates. Because the company's insurance carrier had not settled before trial, the jury's punitive award also triggered an additional fee-sharing provision that further increased recovery for the plaintiffs. The jury returned $80 million in compensatory damages and more than $3 billion in punitive damages, for a total of $3.8 billion. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the punitive portion would be reduced to $1.4 billion under the company's insurance policy constraints, bringing the effective total down from the headline figure.

The $3.8 billion award joined a string of multi-billion-dollar Real Water verdicts, following the $5.2 billion combined compensatory and punitive award from an October 2024 trial involving fifteen plaintiffs and a roughly $3 billion verdict for eight plaintiffs in June 2024. Across the series, Clark County juries returned multi-billion-dollar verdicts against the company, which remains in bankruptcy with contested assets.