A distributor has been ordered to pay more than $11 million to the family of a 39-year-old Florida woman who died after ingesting kratom. Judge Donald Middlebrooks said in his ruling, issued after a federal wrongful death lawsuit was tried in West Palm Beach, that no amount of money was adequate but that "the law recognizes that the defendant must pay something" in the death of Krystal Talavera. The registered nurse died in 2021 after taking the herbal extract from Southeast Asia, the Guardian reports. The company, Kratom Distro, must pay the damages to Talavera's four children and her estate.
Talavera's partner, Biaggio Vultaggio, told the court he found her on the living room floor, with their 14-month-old playing next to her, per WPTV. An open bag of a product called "space dust" was on the floor. Talavera's family said she had bought it online and considered it safe after being introduced to it by friends. An autopsy found her death was caused by acute intoxication from mitragynine, a main component of kratom, which is sold in stores as a supplement and is not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. "At high concentrations, mitragynine produces opioid-like effects, such as respiratory failure," the coroner was quoted in the lawsuit as saying. Devin Filipelli, Talavera's eldest son, said in a statement that he hoped the judgment would bring attention to "the dangers of kratom." (More kratom stories.)
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