Trial over Aqua Dots toy coated with date-rape-drug begins

Sean Holstege | The Arizona Republic

Show Caption Hide Caption Aqua Dots 'date-rape-drug' trial begins Two Arizona parents are suing the makers of Aqua Dots after their toddler suffered critical injuries after swallowing the toy beads. The beads were coated wth a chemical that converts into the "date-rape drug" GHB when ingested.

It was any parent's nightmare.

A toddler, a presumably safe toy, an unimagined visit to the emergency room.

For Gilbert, Ariz. residents Beth and Mark Monje, life got unbearably worse when their 18-month-old son, Ryan, swallowed some beads from the popular toy Aqua Dots. Ryan started vomiting, but the ordeal only began after paramedics airlifted Ryan to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in July 2007.

Ryan had seizures, stopped breathing and fell into a coma. When he emerged from hospital, he had permanent injuries and brain damage, according to court records.

It turned out that the beads had been coated with a compound that, when ingested, breaks down in GHB, better known as the "date rape drug." And the date rape drug is particularly toxic to young children like Ryan.

Four months later, the manufacturer, Spin Master Inc., and its Canadian sister company Spin Master LLC, pulled Aqua Dots from the shelves after two other toddlers swallowed beads and went into comas, but recovered.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission announced a voluntary recall of the estimated 4.2 million units that had been sold after April that year for anywhere between $17 and $30.

One of those was Ryan Monje's.

The toy, designed for children older than four, allows kids to arrange colored beads in patterns and then allows them to create permanent art by spraying them with water, which seals the beads together. The box warned of ingestion hazards, but not any chemicals.

Eight years later, the Monjes are getting their day in court. They sued in federal court both Spin Master firms, plus Toys "R" Us Inc., which sold the Aqua Dots toy to the Monjes.

Today, the jury is hearing opening arguments in U.S. District Judge John Tuchi's downtown Phoenix courtroom.

READ MORE: 7 historically dangerous kids toys: Aqua Dots to lawn darts

That alone makes the case a rarity. A large majority of lawsuits by individuals against large corporations get dismissed or settled long before they reach a trial, especially in U.S. District Court.

In court documents, the family accuses Spin Master and a subcontracted Australian distributor of the beads named Moose Enterprise Pty. Ltd., of deliberately substituting a safe chemical coating for the dangerous one to save money.

The lawsuit claims the manufacturers saved at least $6,900 for every metric ton of the chemical, based on wholesale trading costs in China, where the toy was made.

Spin Master, in its legal defense, denied the allegations.

The company instead shifted the blame on Moose and the Chinese manufacturing firm JSSY Ltd., arguing that any damage was caused by parties over whom Spin Master had no direct control and that it was not responsible for the manufacturing of the defective beads.

"Aqua Dots beads were manufactured at the direction and control of Moose," Spin Master's lawyers argued.