AbbVie Loses Testosterone Civil Suit

[Jinzang]

A jury awarded $150 million in punitive damages, but no personal damages in the lawsuit of Jesse Mitchell, who claimed his heart attack was caused by AndroGel. AbbieVie argued that Mr. Mitchell was at high risk because he smoked and was overweight. AbbieVie will appeal the verdict. There are several news articles, including this one.

 

[Vince Carter]

most certainly should have been a malpractice suit, right? Certainly the guy was in poor health to begin with and had androgel thrown at him with probably little monitoring. Im more for blaming the Dr, and the patient, than the product.

 

[Jinzang]

A lawyer analyzes the case and concludes:

According to a legal dictionary maintained by the Legal Information Institute at Cornell University, judges and juries must answer six questions to find for a plaintiff who brings a fraudulent misrepresentation case:

1. Did the defendant make a representation?
2. Was the representation false?
3. Did the defendant know that the representation was false at the time, or did the defendant make the statement recklessly without knowing whether it was true?
4. Was the fraudulent misrepresentation made with the intention of having the plaintiff rely on it?
5. Did the plaintiff did rely on the fraudulent misrepresentation?
6. Did the plaintiff suffer harm as a result of the fraudulent misrepresentation?
7. The $150 million punitive damage award in Mitchell v. AbbVie Inc. will almost definitely be overturned when the company appeals it because the trial jury answered only a few of these questions affirmatively. However, AndroGel lawsuits brought by plaintiffs who used the product to treat Low-T could succeed. Pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable for ignoring or covering up their drug's risks and for overselling products' benefits.

 

[Jinzang]

Here's another news article on the case with an opinion on why the $150 million punitive damages award is likely to be overturned:

Speaking with Bloomberg, Duke University law professor Neil Vidmar said the award will likely not survive an appeal because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that requires punitive damages to be based on reasonable actual damages.

 

[Jinzang]

The lawyer who won the two settlements against AbbieVie is interviewed here. One quote:

These are all just natural occurrences of aging. Your testosterone naturally declining with age is actually a good thing. It protects you from injury. It's not a bad thing. Yes, they flat out went out and told doctors they should be prescribing a drug that the company knew these men did not need.

 

[Saul]

Let me guess - jury decision. The juries that get seated are typically not educated enough or smart enough to understand and decide complex cases. They are swayed by emotion, preconceived opinions, and which attorney they like better.