J&J Unit Ordered to Pay $10 Million Over Motrin Injuries
A Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) unit must pay $10 million in damages to the family of a 13-year-old girl who suffered skin burns and eye damage after she took Children’s Motrin to treat a fever and cough, a Pennsylvania jury ruled.
Jurors in state court in Philadelphia deliberated for 10 hours over two days before holding J&J’s McNeil Consumer Products unit liable for Brianna Maya’s injuries. Maya, now 13, was left blind in one eye and suffered burns over 84 percent of her body after taking Motrin in 2000 when she was 3 1/2.
The ruling means that “J&J and McNeil will be called to task” for failing to properly warn parents about Motrin’s risks, Keith Jensen, a lawyer for Maya and her family, said in an interview after the verdict was announced today.
J&J, the world’s second-biggest seller of medical products, recalled more than 40 consumer brands last year, among them varieties of children’s and infants’ Tylenol, Motrin and St. Joseph Aspirin, over fears they had been tainted by production problems. The withdrawals cost the New Brunswick, New Jersey- based company $900 million in sales and prompted regulators to exercise more oversight at McNeil plants.
The drugmaker “strongly disagrees with today’s verdict and we are considering out legal options,” Marc Boston, a McNeil spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement.
Other Trials
J&J, the world’s largest health-products maker, and McNeil have faced at least two other jury trials over claims the companies hid the pain relievers’ links to Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, an allergic drug reaction that can leave patients with damaged eyes, a blistered mouth and burned skin.
A California jury cleared J&J and McNeil of liability in 2008 for injuries suffered by an 11-year-old girl who took the pain relievers and developed the syndrome. Her family had sought $1 billion in damages.
Two years later, a federal jury in Illinois awarded a woman who took Children’s Motrin and suffered similar injuries $3.5 million in damages. A judge threw that award out on procedural grounds.
In the Philadelphia case, Jensen argued Maya developed a rash, skin lesions, eye infections and lung damage after taking Children’s Motrin in 2000, according to court filings. He contended J&J officials didn’t include a warning on that year’s label alerting consumers the fever medicine can trigger Stevens- Johnson Syndrome.
The companies later warned that ibuprofen, the pain reliever’s active ingredient, could trigger “a severe allergic reaction,” the symptoms of which could include rashes and blisters, according to court filings.
$5 Million Sought
The girl’s family sought at least $5 million in damages to cover her medical bills and other expenses.
Jones and other lawyers for the J&J unit countered during the trial that the plaintiffs failed to prove ibuprofen was the cause of Maya’s drug reaction and that the disease only afflicts 1 person out of 25 million who use Children’s Motrin.
The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas jury found that McNeil was negligent for not providing a proper warning about Children’s Motrin’s risks and that failure was “a factual cause” of the girl’s injuries.
The panel rejected claims that the pain reliever was defectively designed or that McNeil officials’ conduct warranted an award of punitive damages.
J&J fell 70 cents, or 1 percent, to $65.69 at 4:15 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The shares have risen 6.2 percent this year.
The case is Maya v. Johnson & Johnson, 002879, February Term 2009, Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia County (Philadelphia).
To contact the reporters on this story: Jef Feeley in Wilmington, Delaware, at jfeeley@bloomberg.net; Christopher Yasiejko in Philadelphia at yasiejko@gmail.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net
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