Since ephedra, also known as "ma huang", was banned by the FDA in 2003, a number of lawsuits have been filed against manufacturers who marketed supplements containing the compound. The first ephedra lawsuit was filed in 2003 in California, where a manufacturer was forced to pay $12.5 million in damages to a number of consumers. The most high-profile ephedra lawsuit was then filed by the widow of baseball player Steve Belcher in 2003, after he died of an overdose of an ephedra-containing supplement. Although the lawsuit was filed for $600 million in damages, a $1 million settlement was reached. Also, a woman in Houston, Texas who suffered a stroke after taking ephedra was awarded $7.4 million damages in an ephedra lawsuit in 2004, which included $5 million punitive damages. Each successful ephedra lawsuit has been based on claims that the manufacturers of the products involved had overstated the safety of their product. It is still possible for any person who has suffered a serious adverse effect from taking products containing ephedra to file an ephedra lawsuit, and also for relatives of any person who may have died from taking ephedra.