Indiana Landmark Legal Settlements
Eli Lilly settlement
In 2008, Indianapolis-based pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly agreed to pay about $800 million to settle nationwide lawsuits for marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa for unapproved, off-label uses, including depression and nausea, from 1999 to 2001. Zyprexa is only approved by the FDA to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The case also resulted in a $515 million criminal fine, the largest fine ever levied against an individual corporation and the largest ever in a health care case.
Indiana court approves $7M landowner class settlement
In 2002, a railroad company paid $7 million to settle a class-action suit brought by more than 9,000 Indiana landowners with right-of-way claims along an abandoned railroad the company planned to use for fiber optic cables. The settlement resolved all title claims between CSX Transportation and landowners on both sides of 600 miles of an abandoned railroad right-of-way in Indiana. The 9-year-old class-action suit was the first Indiana right-of-way class-action case to be affirmed by a federal judge. It was also one of the first in the nation involving fiber optic cable, which at the time was a new technology.
Duke Energy out $93M for Clean Air Act violations in Indiana
Duke Energy, one of the largest electric power companies in the nation, agreed in 2009 to spend approximately $85 million to significantly reduce harmful air pollution at an Indiana power plant and pay a $1.75 million civil penalty. Under a settlement to resolve violations of federal clean air laws, Duke Energy also agreed to spend $6.25 million on environmental mitigation projects. The agreement resolved violations of the Clean Air Act's new source review requirements found at the company's Gallagher coal-fired power plant in New Albany, Ind. The settlement is anticipated to reduce sulfur dioxide emissions at the Gallagher Plant.
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