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But fen-phen award may make Wyeth settle other suits, experts say
Associated Press
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
TRENTON, N.J. – A Texas jury's stunning $1 billion award to the family of a woman who died after taking one of the now-banned fen-phen diet drugs is unlikely to stand, say legal experts and drug maker Wyeth, which says the trial was riddled with errors.
However, law professors and plaintiffs' attorneys said Wednesday, the size of the award Tuesday – the biggest ever in a fen-phen case – could push Wyeth to settle more of the tens of thousands of pending fen-phen lawsuits, rather than risk more huge verdicts.
"They had more power until this decision," said Shelby Moore, a professor at South Texas College of Law.
Wyeth has set aside $16.6 billion to settle fen-phen cases since it pulled its drugs, Pondimin and Redux, off the market in 1997 as reports rolled in that they had caused heart valve and lung damage in some of the roughly 5.8 million Americans who took them.
The two drugs were the fenfluramine half of the diet drug combination prescribed by many doctors but not officially approved, and phentermine, which was not implicated in health problems.
Wyeth, whose share price fell 2 percent to $38.49 Wednesday, said it will appeal the $1.014 billion verdict, which includes $900 million in punitive damages.
"I'm quite confident, because of errors in the case, that this is going to get reversed on appeal," said Tim Atkeson, one of three lawyers who represented Wyeth in the six-week trial in Beaumont.
Mr. Atkeson said lawyers for the family of Cynthia Cappel-Coffey never proved Wyeth's Pondimin caused the condition that killed her at age 41.
John O'Quinn, the lead attorney for Ms. Cappel-Coffey's husband, said that evidence strongly supported the verdict and that two jurors said afterward they wanted a bigger award – large enough to put Wyeth out of business.
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