A jury in Minnesota has awarded 82-year-old John Schedin $1.1 million in punitive damages and $700,000 in compensatory damages. The verdict supports the claim in Schedin’s lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson that the pharmaceutical company failed to properly warn him of the drug Levaquin’s side effects. This is the first of an estimated 2,600 Levaquin lawsuits.
The federal jury found that Johnson & Johnson, the makers of Levaquin, failed to properly warn doctors and consumers of the risks associated with the drug. Levaquin has been used to treat bacterial infections.
Mr. Schedin’s Levaquin lawsuit claimed he ruptured both his Achilles’ tendons as a result of taking the prescribed drug to treat bronchitis in 2005. Johnson & Johnson, the lawsuit claimed, had downplayed the risks, even though they had received reports of tendon damage dating back to 2001. Patients who took Levaquin and similar drugs have had tendon injuries to their hands, elbows, shoulders and knees.
Since 2008, the FDA has required black box warnings about the risk of tendon injury for Johnson & Johnson and makers of similar drugs. The elderly and those taking corticosteroids are thought to be at higher risk for tendinitis and ruptured tendons.
Turn to SettlementBoard.com for more on the settlement of Levaquin lawsuits, and for settlements involving companies including Costco and DeBeers.
Information in this post gathered in association with an Orange County family law attorney
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