Donna Scroggin’s hormone replacement product liability suit against Wyeth and Upjohn has been quite a roller coaster ride. At the spring 2008 trial of Scroggin’s claim that the drug companies failed to warn of the increased risk of breast cancer resulting from their estrogen and progestin products, a Little Rock, Ark., federal district court jury awarded the breast cancer survivor $2.75 million in compensatory damages. In the second phase of trial, the jury hit Upjohn with about $8 million in punitive damages, and Wyeth with $19 million.
Those punies didn’t last long, though. After post-trial motions, Judge William Wilson Jr. upheld the jury’s liability finding and $2.75 million compensatory damages verdict against Wyeth and Upjohn. But he struck the testimony of Scroggin’s punitive damages expert and vacated the punitive damages awards against the drug companies.
