Motrin lawsuit

[Guest gopecon]

Did anyone else hear about this lawsuit? It was a terrible situation for this poor girl with the allergic reaction, but $63 Million for a product that was not defective...Wow!

Family awarded $63M: Adverse reaction behind girl's Motrin lawsuit - National Top News | Examiner.com

[Anddenex]

Nope, now I have from this thread.

I was reading some of the comments by those who support the law suit, very interesting why they think J&J was at fault.

The majority claim, their fault because they make billions of dollars a year selling medicine. I am not sure how anyone would be able to sue and win a case like this.

I mean, this opens up a can of worms for anybody to sue over an allergic reaction...restaurants will now need to be more careful and put a warning on all their menu's..."Some foods may cause an allergic reaction."

[EarlJibbs]

When problems arise with anything, the deepest pockets get sued.

[Just_A_Guy]

I'd be interested to hear from someone more familiar with the science involved (MOE? Marshac?). Can Motrin really cause that kind of infection, even in very rare cases?

If so, and if it causes lifelong complications, I can easily see the medical costs running into the millions. And if they use the treble-damage formula common in tort law, $60 million is on the high end but not impossible.

We'll have to check in a couple of years down the road, when the appeal is done.

Edited February 15, 2013 by Just_A_Guy

[Wingnut]

The girl's allergic reaction, obviously from the OTC medication, was so severe, it caused...

Obviously? The medical staff was confused, so how was it "obvious" to them? How did they know it wasn't from something in the Thanksgiving meal? Really objective writing there...

[Guest gopecon]

The problem for me is that the company did nothing wrong. The article did not mention any allegations that the medicine was in any way defective. They are imposing a strict liability standard where it probably shouldn't be there - OTC meds are not inherently dangerous. I could see it there was reimbursement for expenses, but $63M is a windfall.

[Vort]

Medical liability lawsuits are as big a single reason as any for the sad state of American pharmaceuticals and regulation. I feel terrible for the poor girl and her family, but IT'S AN ALLERGIC REACTION! So if there's a drug that would benefit ten million of us, but ten people each suffer some weird reaction to the drug, or perhaps only something that LOOKS like a reaction to the drug, and it costs the company $100 million in court costs, attorney fees, and payoffs, that's a billion dollars -- in addition to the development costs.

In general, I think trial by a peer jury is absolutely necessary to safeguard our freedoms. But in cases like this, trial by a jury of ignorant people who literally are barred from doing any research to inform themselves -- and who in fact are chosen for their ignorance (I know by experience, having been dismissed from jury pools because I indicated that I might actually know something about certain topics) -- coming to a fair, just, and reasonable verdict becomes much more a matter of serendipity than an inevitable outcome of the process of justice.