Nevada Wyeth verdict reduced by $76 million

RENO, Nev. Washoe County District Judge Robert Perry has decided to reduce the verdict in the Wyeth drug case from $134 million to $58 million, according to the Associated Press.

Perry claimed that “passion and prejudice” inflated the verdict, which was over three women suing the drug maker of the hormone replacement drugs Prempro and Premarin. The judgment now stands at $23 million in compensatory and $35 million in punitive damages, a dramatic change from the $35 million in compensatory and $99 million in punitive that were originally granted.

The three women: Jeraldine Scofield, Arlene Rowatt, and Pamela Forrester will receive $19.3 million, $17.6 million, and $21 million respectively for winning the argument that the drugs caused their breast cancers.

Wyeth officials welcomed the ruling but still planned to appeal. “While it’s encouraging the district court has acknowledged the excessiveness of the award to some extent, it doesn’t change the fact that the verdict was irreparably flawed and fraught with error,” Wyeth spokesman Doug Petkus said.

The company still faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country.