HRT/Prempro verdicts. A bright spot for the settlement industry?

In today's edition of Speaking of Justice, the daily LBN show that features news makers, commentators and experts in all area of the law, Scott Drake is joined by Attorney Roberta Ashkin, one of the nations leading experts in the area of HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) litigation, also known as Prempro litigation. 

Just last week in the Scroggin vs Wyeth case that was being argued in U.S. District Court in Little Rock, AK a jury returned compensatory damages on a Prempro trial of $2.7 million to plaintiff Donna Scroggin. The case is currently still in the damages phase on potential punitive damages, so this initial award is simply for compensatory damages.

Roberta and Scott discuss the facts and issues in both this case but also the landmark verdict in Reno, NV that was tried to a $150 million verdict by Zoe Littlepage of the Houston firm of Littlepage Booth. This was recently reduced by the trial judge to $50 million, still an outstanding amount and a substantial victory for the three plaintiffs.

Listen in to this podcast that gives a current update for trial lawyers and ordinary citizens on the topic of hormone replacement therapy, Prempro as well as the recent Supreme Court ruling on the Rezulin preemption case. 

My question to the settlement industry is whether or not the Prempro litigation, also known as HRT litigation, as a result of the string of recent court wins has the potential to turn this area into one that might be of prime interest to the settlement industry. Most claimants are older women who would be ideally suited in most regards to benefit from a structured settlement. It will be a matter of whether this case is going to be another round of individual trials or could we eventually see a global settlement of some type ala Vioxx? 

Update on Friday, March 7, 2008 at 07:03AM by The Settlement Channel

The U.S. District Court handling the Donna Scroggin's v Wyeth case just came out with a stunning punitive award of $27 million in this recent loss for Wyeth in the HRT litigation.

You can read the full report by clicking here.

Bottom line is that plaintiffs have now won 4 of the 7 cases taken to trial and this is the second case that has awarded major punitive damages. Clearly the judges and juries are starting to take a dim view of the fact pattern on this area of litigation.