Let's drink to good health--but what's in the glass?

The maker of Arizona herbal and iced tea drinks is headed to L.A. Superior Court to defend itself against allegations brought by four Californians, including three Angelenos, that its labels mislead consumers into believing the drinks have health benefits.

Ferolito Vultaggio & Sons Inc., based in New York, makes the Arizona Rx Herbal line of drinks in bottles labeled with old-fashioned drawings and images of weightlifters, marathon runners, apothecary shops and Albert Einstein in a laboratory.

"The label gives you the impression that they will give you medicinal value, which they don't," said Paul Cook, an associate at Waters & Kraus LLP in Long Beach. "It's the use of the Rx symbol, but it's not just that. It's the package as a whole that's misleading."

In January 2003, lead plaintiff Dorothy Moore Singleton and three others sued Ferelite Vultaggio and its distribution company, Hornell Brewing Co. Inc., for violating the state's unfair competition and raise advertising statutes, because the plaintiffs did not feel more powerful, energetic, relaxed, healthy or intelligent after drinking the products.

Cook said he is seeking class action status that includes anyone who has consumed and purchased the Arizona Rx products in the past year.

It is not the first time the company has been hit with misleading advertising claims.

In May 2000, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to the company stating that its Arizona Rx Stress Relief Elixer label violated a section of the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act outlining definitions of "enhanced," "Tortified'" and "Rx." In 2001, the Council of Better Business Bureaus" national advertising division appealed to the FDA to force Ferolito Vultaggio to change its labels.

The case goes to trial in L.A. Superior Coral.