- Philadelphia jury awarded the $8 billion in punitive damages to Nicholas Murray
- Murray previously won $680,000 in compensatory damages over his claims
- He said drugmaker failed to warn young men that Risperdal could cause breasts
- J&J says the punitive damages are disproportionate and expects overturn
Johnson & Johnson must pay $8 billion in punitive damages to a man who previously won $680,000 over his claims that it failed to warn that young men using its antipsychotic drug Risperdal could grow breasts, a Philadelphia jury said on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury’s verdict in favor of Nicholas Murray came in the first case in which a Pennsylvania jury had been able to consider awarding punitive damages in one of thousands of Risperdal cases pending in the state.
‘This jury, as have other juries in other litigations, once again imposed punitive damages on a corporation that valued profits over safety and profits over patients,’ Murray’s lawyers, Tom Kline and Jason Itkin, said in a joint statement. ‘Johnson &Johnson and (subsidiary) Janssen chose billions over children.’
J&J said the award was ‘grossly disproportionate with the initial compensatory award in this case, and the company is confident it will be overturned.’ It added that the jury in the case had not been allowed to hear evidence of Risperdal’s benefits.
Professor Carl Tobias of the University of Richmond School of Law said he expects the punitive damages to be lowered on appeal, citing a U.S. Supreme Court decision which found that ‘few awards exceeding a single-digit ratio between punitive and compensatory damages, to a significant degree, will satisfy due process.’
Tobias said the verdict was about sending a message.
‘A jury, if it’s outrageous enough conduct, will award a big number and let the lawyers and judges work it out,’ he said.
Tobias added that the verdict could be a sign that J&J will face more large damages awards in other Risperdal cases.
‘The kind of evidence in this trial may persuade another jury or judge to do something similar,’ he said.
Murray, like other male plaintiffs in the mass tort litigation over Risperdal, alleges that he developed breasts after being prescribed the medicine when he was a minor.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in late 1993 for treating schizophrenia and episodes of bipolar mania in adults.