GERMAN COURT RULED A HANGOVER IS AN ILLNESS
A German court hangover ruling found that a hangover is an illness, but the case was about ads, not sick days.
The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt am Main issued the decision on September 12, 2019, in case 6 U 114/18. It involved an unnamed company that marketed anti-hangover products, BBC reported.
The judges defined illness broadly. “By an illness, one should understand even small or temporary disruptions to the normal state or normal activity of the body,” the court wrote.
Hangover symptoms such as headache, nausea and fatigue fit that definition, the court said. It said they depart from the body’s normal functioning.
Why alcohol was the key
The court also said a hangover is not just the body having an off day. “They do not occur as a result of the natural ‘up and downs’ of the body, but as a result of the consumption of alcohol, a harmful substance,” the court said, CNN reported.
It did not matter that hangover symptoms often go away on their own or that no medical treatment is needed, the court said, according to LTO. The court also referred to “Veisalgia” as the medical term for a hangover.
The company sold a powdered stick product called a “Drink” and a ready-to-drink mixture called a “Shot,” LTO reported. Its marketing included the phrase “Natürlich bei Kater.” Another line told customers the Drink supplied their bodies with natural, antioxidant plant extracts, electrolytes and vitamins.
A consumer-protection organization sued the company, LTO reported. The Frankfurt Regional Court had already ruled for the plaintiff before the company appealed, and the higher court affirmed that decision.
It was never about calling in sick
The ruling was about food advertising, not employment law. German food-information rules prohibit attributing disease-prevention, treatment or healing properties to food products.
The court spelled out that principle in plain terms. “Information about a food product cannot ascribe any properties for preventing, treating or healing a human illness or give the impression of such a property,” it wrote.
Nothing in the ruling gives workers a right to phone in sick after a big night out, and it does not say how employers must treat hangover-related absences. CNN, however, framed the decision as validating an excuse employees worldwide use the morning after drinking. That was CNN’s characterization, not the court’s.
The ruling landed as Oktoberfest was getting underway in Munich, CNN reported.
What science says about a cure
CNN also reported that there is probably no hangover cure. The U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism says the only way to prevent a hangover is not to drink.
Physicians cited by CNN said water and foods rich in vitamin A, potassium and zinc may help replace nutrients or ease dehydration. The “hair of the dog” may delay symptoms, they said, but the symptoms may come back later. None of that came from the court.
What the ruling changed
The practical result landed squarely on the company. The court barred it from claiming its products could prevent or alleviate hangovers, LTO reported.
