Family of woman awarded $1 billion dollars for death from diet drug

NBC ^ | 4/27/2004 | Me

[TheBattman]

Just saw an interview with the widower of a woman who apparently died from a lung disease supposedly caused by a diet drug produced by Wyeth (I didn't hear the words "Fen-Phen" ...so I'm not sure if it's related.

Anyway, the story indicated that the judgement awarded was $1 billion - which far exceeds Texas' cap on punative damages.

[TheBattman]

After doing some extensive searching on this site, I have found nothing on this story.

Does anyone know anything about this case?

[Born Conservative]

BEAUMONT, Texas - A jury awarded $1 billion to the family of a woman who once took the Wyeth-made diet drug Pondimin, part of the now-banned weight-loss combination fen-phen.

The New Jersey-based drug company said Tuesday it would appeal the jury's huge award, which included $900 million in punitive damages.

Cynthia Cappel-Coffey, 41, died last year after being diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension, which her attorneys blamed on Pondimin, the brand name of fenfluramine.

She took the drug for five months in 1997, according to her attorneys. Pondimin was pulled from the market in September 1997 because of side effects. Cappel-Coffey was diagnosed with hypertension in 2002 and died last year.

The family's attorney, John O'Quinn, said Wyeth was negligent and "acted with malice in marketing of this drug by putting its making of money ahead of human life and safety."

Wyeth contended that it provided adequate warnings about the risk of primary pulmonary hypertension associated with Pondimin and had complied with federal regulations.

"Ms. Cappel-Coffey, who was morbidly obese, a strong candidate for using diet drugs and had a family history of cardiovascular disease prior to taking diet drugs, did not develop PPH symptoms until more than four years after she stopped using Pondimin," Wyeth attorney Bill Sims said.

Sims also said the $900 million in punitive damages exceeded a Texas cap on such awards.

American Home Products Corp., which later changed its name to Wyeth, made Pondimin, the fenfluramine half of fen-phen, and Redux, a chemical cousin. About 6 million people took the drugs before they were pulled from the market. Phentermine, the other drug in the combination, was not implicated in health problems.

Sims said the Jefferson County jury did not hear evidence that Cappel-Coffey was taking four other prescription drugs after she discontinued using Pondimin. The judge ruled against such testimony. Sims said the other drugs also included warnings of the risk of PPH.

About 78,000 people have opted out of a $3.75 billion trust fund the company set up for injured fen-phen patients, and Wyeth has set aside $16.6 billion to cover payouts from the trust, verdicts, settlements and legal costs.


http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/8534424.htm

[tdadams]

What a joke. The appeal should take care of this stupidity.

[Mamzelle]

Will push up the costs of drugs--not only from Wyeth--considerably. But, wow, some lawyer is mighty rich! He can buy his own country!

[southernnorthcarolina]

Heck, the drug worked. She's down to a pound and a half.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It is the lure of a big payoff that cause lawyers to file frivilous lawsuits. One small law could completley reverse the "litigation lottery". Make lawyers who represent a person personally liable in a countersuit.

[DManA]

Someday soon, somewhere a jury will award "All the Money in the World Plus $1".

[freekitty]

This is very stupid.

[texgal]

The family's attorney, John O'Quinn, is already a multi-millionaire from these types of suits. He's so good at it that even his own kind (lawyers) despise him. He's a legend here in Houston.

[shhrubbery!]

That does it! -- too many juries are too stupid to be allowed to rule in medical cases!

I heard a proposal that special "medical juries" be set up for just this sort of idiot lawsuit. The jury would be composed of people who have some expertise in medical matters.

Sure, there'd be a risk some "medical jurors" would be biased one way or the other; but I'd bet we wouldn't get asinine outcomes like we did in this case.

[tdadams]

I read a legal newsletter dealing with Texas law. When the tort reform law passed there, you would think all the civil litigation attorneys were looking for the nearest bridge, ready to hurl themselves from it.

They all lamented how the reform would deny justice to victims of malpractice and negligence, but it was very obvious they were really lamenting their loss of multi-million dollar contingency fees. Clearly, their ox is being gored and they don't like it.

[TheBattman]

"Ms. Cappel-Coffey, who was morbidly obese, a strong candidate for using diet drugs and had a family history of cardiovascular disease prior to taking diet drugs, did not develop PPH symptoms until more than four years after she stopped using Pondimin," Wyeth attorney Bill Sims said.

IF this is true...then I would propose that this judgement is the result of another runaway jury/judicial system. If the woman was morbidly obese (a prime candidate for cardio/vascular disease and early eath to begin with) and had been off the drug for 4 years before any symptom or sign of trouble began, how could this be pinned on Wyeth?

Then again, I still haven't seen the huge problem with the "fen-phen". Maybe it's just me, but it doesn't appear that the risks of this drug is any higher than a lot of drugs out there. If there is some sort of info I am not familiar with that would change this view - please feel free....

[TheBattman]

This is the exact reason that it has proven impossible to have any sort of national tort reform.

[BooBoo1000]

Nothing if final and no money from the Drug Company has been received. I don't think the Lawyer should be looking at new Mercedes quite yet.

[general_re]

...how could this be pinned on Wyeth?

What makes you think that the jury cared about that? She's dead, they have a lot of money, and that's about all your fellow citizens need when it comes to assigning liability for things.

[TexasRepublic]

I should have been a lawyer, but my family would disown me.

[somniferum]

Reminds me of something that happened to me last summer. While home from college for the summer, I was working at the local hardware store. An elderly friend of the family stops by and we chit chat for a while (Haven't talked in a long time). He asks me, "So, what do you plan on doing after you graduate?". I replied "Well, I hope to attend law school". He replies with a laugh, "Damn boy, and all these years I thought you were gonna make something of yourself!".

Priceless :)

[RightWhale]

It's the post-postmodern equivalent of Dadaism. Give a random victim $1 billion.

[LibKill]

I live in this area. Beaumont is in Jefferson County. Jefferson County jurors are famed for siding with the plaintiff no matter what, for giving awards far in excess of anything that can be considered sane, and for stupid guilibility.

Our justice system, civil and criminal, is broken.