Pitcher's Widow Files $600 Million Suit Against Supplement Maker

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -The widow of Baltimore Orioles' pitcher Steve Bechler has filed a $600 million wrongful death suit against the manufacturer of Xendarine RFA-1 claiming that the ephedra-caffeine-based supplement caused her husband's death. Kiley Bechler v. Cytodyne Technologies, et al., No. 03-61369 (S.D. Fla., Ft. Lauderdale Div.).

According to the July 16 lawsuit, Cytodyne Technologies and its president Robert Chinery fraudulently misrepresented the dangers of the weight loss product and failed to sufficiently warn consumers that the supplement could cause heat stroke, hypertension, seizures and death.

'Steve Bechler is dead. Ephedra killed him,' the complaint states. 'Despite overwhelming evidence …