We’re in the countdown to year-end and looking over some of the more impactful settlements LawyersAndSettlements.com has covered over the past year. When we’re talking impactful, everyone around here has an opinion—so we had to throw in some criteria. To get the nod for impact, a settlement had to be one of two things: 1. High dollar value; or 2. Precedent-setting—or at least have the potential to influence similar cases to follow. (Sounds simple, but you try getting Stephen, John, Jaime, Michelle and Ben to settle in on just 7 settlements with just those criteria…) So here we go…7 game-changing settlements for ’09…
Michelle David filed a lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline, alleging the company’s antidepressant, Paxil was responsible for her son’s birth defects. David said she had taken Paxil while pregnant and was not aware of the potential side effects. GlaxoSmithKline said that birth defects occur in between three and five percent of all live births, regardless of Paxil use.
A jury found, in a 10-2 decision, that GlaxoSmithKline’s officials were negligent in failing to warn David’s doctor about the risks of Paxil. The jury also found that Paxil was a factual cause of the little boy’s heart problems. David was awarded $2.5 million.
Why it’s impactful:There are 600 or so lawsuits alleging Paxil caused birth defects waiting in Read the rest of this entry »