Lawyer hits the jackpot!!!

[dr. freeze]

Jury awards $1 billion in Beaumont diet drug case
Associated Press


BEAUMONT -- The family of a woman who took a diet drug called Pondimin was awarded more than $1 billion by a Jefferson County jury today.

Cynthia Cappel-Coffey died last year after being diagnosed with primary pulmonary hypertension -- which attorneys for her family claimed resulted from her use of the drug.

Cappel-Coffey took the drug for five months in 1997, according to her attorneys. She was diagnosed with PPH in 2002 and died the following year. She was 41 years old.

Houston Attorney John O'Quinn, who represented Cappel-Coffey's family, said Wyeth was negligent and "acted with 'malice' in marketing of this drug by putting its making of money ahead of human life and safety."

Wyeth, the company which produces the drug, said it had provided adequate warnings about the risk of PPH associated with the drug and had complied with Food and Drug Administration regulations.

The New Jersey-based drug company said it would appeal the verdict and noted that PPH cases represent a fraction of diet drug litigation.

"Ms. Cappel-Coffey, who was morbidly obese, a strong candidate for using diet drugs and had a family history of cardiovascular disease prior to taking diet drugs, did not develop PPH symptoms until more than four years after she stopped using Pondimin," Wyeth attorney Bill Sims said. "There is absolutely no basis in the record for the amounts awarded."

Sims said while the company sympathizes with Cappel-Coffey's family, the verdict was not supported by evidence presented in the case and exceeds Texas' cap on punitive damages.

Jurors did not hear evidence that Cappel-Coffey also was taking four other prescription drugs after she discontinued her use of Pondimin, Sims said. He said the other drugs also included warnings of the risk of PPH.

*** what a freaking joke....fat lady -- morbidly obese -- develops primary pulmonary hypertension (which 99-99.9% of morbidly obese people do) and some lawyer wins 1 Billion $$ blaming it on a diet pill......

it will never cease....lawyers and liberal judges have made a mockery of our courts

 

[parlayinn]

$1 billion? wtf

how can they afford to pay that

 

[saint]

They won't, in typical fashion it will just go through 3 sets of appeals before a more reasonable award is determined, all the while costing us tax payers money.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

The preceeding three (3) posts are brought to you by uninformed, uneducated, sound-bite oriented, right wing idiots with an agenda to put forward. In addition, the following post by Dogs That Bark in support of the preceeding three (3) posts is also brought to you by the insurance industry of america.

Freeze, tell me, what does a chiropractic student like yourself, living in some trailor in rural Kansas know about pulmonary hypertension? I'm sure a cervical adjustment and manipulation will cure that disease process along with attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Why don't you stick to something you know. Like malpractice, quack.

Glad all three of you (as well as DTB's forthcoming post) can draw such brilliant, factual and enlightened conclusions from the AP story. Freeze, the only thing you have proven to know on these boards is how to cut and paste. I assume your patients feel the same way.

Eddie

PS. Still waiting for your response to "Joe Camel" you low-life puke.

 

[vinnie]

Freeze, tell me, what does a chiropractic student like yourself, living in some trailor in rural Kansas know about pulmonary hypertension? Freeze, the only thing you have proven to know on these boards is how to cut and paste. I assume your patients feel the same way.

Eddie

I live in rual Kansas:shrug: move here 3 years ago to get away from the fast pace of the east coast :thefinger

 

[Eddie Haskell]

A Vinnie? In rural Kansas? Is this a great country or what.

Ed

 

[SixFive]

Eddie, I don't feel like I'm led by anything more than common sense, and that judgement does seem harsh. I think Dr. Freeze was exaggerating his numbers a bit, but I would say an obese person getting Primary Pulmonary Hypertension would not be uncommon; I've taken care of plenty of them.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

65:

With all due respect, this type of misinformation was what first caused me to start posting at this forum. People with agenda's (doctors, insurance people, right wingers, etc.) post sound bite articles such as this one, designed to grab attention from the public then extrapolate from such stories ideas within the readers that play on a common theme (ie. lawyers make billions from death of fat guy or lady gets millions from spilling hot coffee in her lap).

My point has, is and always will be, that unless your in the courtroom listening to all the facts you can't trust these attention grabbing headlines, unless of course, these sound bite snipets support your own belief system. See Freeze and your neighbor post this stuff because of their own respective agendas (which happen to dovetail), that is, dislike and distrust of lawyers and the legal system and the ultimate destruction of the jury system.

You know its funny how our republican friends on this board think a jury is very capable of determining whether a defendant should live or die, yet are incapable of determing an amount of money which will compensate a victim of medical negligence. Seems to me like there is a lot of inconsistency here. As long as juries continue to send people to the electic chair there okay but once they award money which creates a perceived, and I do mean perceived, increase in your insurance premiums they are not okay.

Amazing.

Ed

 

[saint]

Eddie,

You've got my motives pegged entirely wrong. For one thing, I'm going to be a dentist, my malpractice premiums will never be affected by this type of lawsuit. Second, you are correct, i don't know squat about the legal system. I mainly posted what I did to get a stir out of you...i really enjoy reading your lengthy diatribe and dribble.

As far as not fully understanding the proceedings unless you sit in on the entire trial, thanks for the clarification captain obvious. Just like people can read the crap the media puts out with their agenda about Iraq, that many people on this board take as written in stone. I guess unless any of us are present in Iraq on a daily basis, we really can't truly understand what is happening.

Justify to me, as a commoner w/ little law knowledge, how any injustice can be compensated with 1 Billion dollars. How is that not to be scoffed at? Why not limit juries to more reasonable sentences and try to limit the chain of appeals that always occurs.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

Saint:

Whats wrong. Couldn't get into chiropractic school with Dr. Freeze so you settled for dental school? Based on your prior posts, I have a feeling that you may observe, first hand, the effect malpractice lawsuits can have on ones premiums.

Respectfully,
Captain Obvious

 

[saint]

captain O,

since i admit i have little law knowledge and asked you a legitimate law question (so that in the future i may appear more well versed of course), could you formulate an answer to my question in the post above.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

Saint:

Apparently, your states dental board has drastically lowered the admissions requirements to dental school. I appreciate and acknowledge your use of the word "injustice" in lieu of negligence, gross negligence, recklessness or similar such language which connotes more egrigous conduct.

Secondly, you have proven my point. How can I, or anyone else for that matter, without being in a courtroom, comment on a jury award. Maybe the doc was drunk, intended to kill the victim, tried to cover up his error and was caught (oh excuse me, thats never done) or whatever. Who knows. Certainly not the AP.

You see, my oral friend, juries are made up of people just like me, you, Dr. Freeze, etc. They aren't some band of lunatics that travel back and forth between the trial courts of Texas and Alabama seeking to give you and your ilk fodder for posts like this. I have previously posted the facts behind the McDonalds case which has been the poster child for tort reform advocates for years.

Somehow the real facts, not being newsworthy, never make the headlines. Remember, newspapers and television stations make money off of sales and advertising dollars, respectively. They don't make money off of the truth. Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper than the sound bite published by Freeze above.

Let me ask you a question saliva fingers, what do you think there have been more of:

1) billion dollar malpractice verdicts, or
2) doctors burying there mistakes with there patients without the truth of there malpractice ever seeing the light of day.

Obvious answer even for the majority of dolts and morons that dominate this board.

Eddie

 

[saint]

Saint:

You see, my oral friend...
Let me ask you a question saliva fingers

:lol: Saliva fingers I am, but I will pass on being your "oral friend". Come on captain O, surely you would know that dental schools determine who gets accepted, it's the boards that determine who gets a license.

You failed to answer my question. I didn't ask what you meant by the necessity to hear all of the details of a court case to understand the ruling. I will agree with you on that...it's easy to leave out important details and make a blanket statement about a court ruling. But where are the award lines drawn...i mean, why not give them 1 trillion dollars, 1 bagillion dollars? Why isn't there a more logical system to determine how much plaintiffs receive? As much as I love your sarcasm-laden responses, I think I am asking a pretty fair question that most non-law people would have.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

Again, for the third time, we don't know the facts as to why a jury would award any sum of money, be it one dollar or a billion dollars. I assume if true, this verdict probably includes a large award for punitive damages which do not relate to the compensatory loss of the victim and her family but rather to the conduct of the defendant corporation (similar to McDonalds case where the jury awarded several million dollars in punitive damages representing two days of coffee sales for McDonalds).

Until I see a breakdown of the compensatory and what I assume are punitive damages awards, I cannot comment. I do not know what kind of loss her next of kin had, how she suffered, her economic loss, etc. Too many variables to respond to your questions. Again we were not in the courtroom and did not hear the evidence. Now go be a good boy and drill on some healthy teeth.

Ed

 

[saint]

Tx for the edumucation lessons, and in the future if i ever get into a legal bind I'll tell 'em to call my lawyer, Captain Obvious.

 

[Eddie Haskell]

Anytime, sweetness.

Remember, the big teeth in the back are the molars.

Ed

 

[Fat & Sassy]

Ed, Saint,

Great Banter?..

Ed - How many times have you been indicted? Be honest....

Saint ? Got my teeth whitened last week, when will I be able to drink cold liquids again?... Nose is sunburned...

Thanks...

 

[Eddie Haskell]

F & S:

It's 11:50 PM. From your past posts, this means that you are about 9 Bud lights, 4 shots of Cuervo and one big shit into the evening. Pass out time bud.

Eddie

 

[ec2285]

Eddie,

You forgot #3: lawyers taking cases that they know don't have merit to line their pockets.

ec2285

 

[Eddie Haskell]

EC:

Another barefootin wailing right winger from the hills of John Denver land. Are you any relation to Wilson?

Look, Billie Bob in order to take on a medical malpractice case you gots ta have a doctor testify that the defendant doc was negligent. That costs big bucks. You morons make it sound like all ya gotta do is file a lawsuit and the millions pour in.

Idiocy breeds idiocy. In WVA its apparently inbred. Thank God, my boy Bobbie Huggins didn't get dumbified and go to your toothless state. By the way, I'm looking forward to my alma mater joining the Big East in 05 so we can do some real billie whompin in basketball and football. You guys can have the hill hollerin.

Ed