Blog Post

Jury Awards $134 Million Judgment against Drug Company


October 17, 2007
Topic: Pharmaceutical Liability

Three Nevada women were awarded $99 million in punitive damages by a Washoe County District Court jury on Monday in a lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical company Wyeth. This brings the total judgment to $134 million. The company has decided to appeal the judgment.

Jeraldine Scofield, 74, Arlene Rowatt, 67 and Pamela Forrester, 64, who had filed the suit alleging that use of Wyeth's hormone replacement drugs lead to their breast cancer, were awarded punitive damages of $33million, $31 million and $35 million respectively. These punitive damages were in addition to the $10.5 million, $12 million and $12.5 million awarded to the three Nevada women in compensatory damages last week. An amendment to the last week's figure of compensatory damages was incorporated by the Washoe District Judge Robert Perry as some of the jurors seemed to have erroneously included the punitive damages in the total of $134.5 before the punitive stage of the trial was actually held.

For Wyeth, a $14.6 billion company, this award against them is the largest so far. The Reno court case was one of almost 5,300 identical lawsuits pending against the company in various state and federal courts. All these cases relate to complaints against their drugs Premarin and Pempro - the first one an estrogen replacement and the other a combination of estrogen and progestin - both meant for administration in menopause related complications.

If you or some one close to you suffers because of defective or unsafe drugs, contact the personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group for a free consultation.


The California personal injury attorneys at The Reeves Law Group represent victims of accidents, injuries and wrongful death throughout California from our offices in Los Angeles County, Orange County, San Diego County, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, Ventura County, Fresno County, Kern County, Sacramento County, San Fernando Valley, Long Beach, Antelope Valley, Torrance, Glendale, Bakersfield, Santa Ana, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Ontario, and Victorville.