Las Vegas, NV - Eight Las Vegas residents on Friday became the latest group to try claims against an "alkaline water" company whose manufacturing process, their lawyer told a jury, introduced a chemical that caused their livers to fail.

The group of five children and three adults began trial against the company Real Water, which in the second half of 2020 started hearing that customers were being hospitalized and in March 2021 recalled its product following an extensive health agency investigation.

Plaintiffs' lawyer Will Kemp told the Las Vegas jury on Friday that somewhere in its alkalinizing process — which the company licensed from a sole inventor without a chemistry background — the toxic chemical hydrazine was created, eventually causing sudden-onset liver failure for five children and three adults.

"They market this as being good for children, OK," Kemp said, showing the jury what appeared to be a screenshot from Real Water's website that told customers, "Your personal health and the health of your children depend upon" asking certain questions before choosing a water for home delivery.

The five small children, from 7 months to 5 years old, were all flown by emergency helicopter to a Salt Lake City children's hospital for treatment in the fall of 2020 and went through extensive treatment for acute liver failure.

The Southern Nevada Health Authority coordinated an investigation with the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kemp said.

All the children were able to avoid having liver transplants, Kemp said, but only after their parents accepted transplants as a real possibility and signed consent forms for them. Three adults also fell ill.

Meanwhile, the company's lawyer, Joel Odou, acknowledged that the company's product was defective.

"There shouldn't have been one drop of hydrazine in the water, not one," he said.

The company has accepted responsibility for each plaintiff's past medical costs, he said — the highest running over $350,000 for one of the children.

But Odou said punitive damages are not warranted where no one had expected, anticipated, or understood the presence of hydrazine — including a plaintiffs' expert.

"The big question in this case was, how did hydrazine get in the water?" Odou said. Given that it's still not understood, it's inappropriate to award punitive damages against the company, he said.

The family who owned the business had total faith in the water and drank it themselves, Odou said. They tested their product regularly. And another plaintiffs' expert will likely acknowledge that hydrazine is not something most water companies test for, Odou said.

In February, a Las Vegas jury awarded more than $129 million to another group of five people who developed liver failure after drinking the water, $100 million of it in punitive damages.

The earlier jury deliberated for about half a day before awarding over $29 million in compensatory damages. A plaintiff who received a liver transplant, Myles Hunwardsen, was awarded the most in compensatory damages, including $14 million for loss of life expectancy.

That jury then heard a short second trial phase and quickly awarded $100 million more in punitive damages.

The plaintiffs are represented by Will Kemp and Eric Pepperman of Kemp Jones LLP and Theodore Parker of Parker Nelson.

Real Water, also known as Affinitylifestyles, is represented by Joel Odou of Wood Smith Henning & Berman LLP.

The case is Wren v. Affinitylifestyles et al., case number A-21-831169-B, in the Eighth District Court of Nevada, Clark County.