A Southern District of New York judge has sanctioned a plaintiffs lawyer and reduced the jury award in one of the bellwether cases in the multidistrict litigation over the anti-osteoporosis drug Fosamax.
Judge John F. Keenan on Monday said the $8 million verdict returned by a jury in June in favor of plaintiff Shirley Boles was “excessive” and gave Boles the option of either getting a retrial on damages or taking $1.5 million. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year when the jury, who could be heard by the lawyers arguing loudly in the jury room, deadlocked 7-1.
