MADISON, N.J., March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wyeth announced today that the jury in the cases of Kenya Starks v. Wyeth, Dottie Lou Yeates v. Wyeth, Patricia Stratton v. Wyeth and Beth White v. Wyeth in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas found in favor of Wyeth in all four cases. The trial began on March 14, 2006 before The Honorable Ricardo Jackson.
Two of the eight plaintiffs who were originally included in this trial group had their claims dismissed by the court in advance of trial. Trial of the claims of the other two plaintiffs was postponed to a later date. The plaintiffs were represented by the Williams Bailey and Blizzard, McCarthy & Nabers law firms of Houston, Texas.
During the first three months of 2006, the claims of 30 diet drug plaintiffs whose cases were set for trial were adjudicated or resolved, including the four cases won by Wyeth today. All of these plaintiffs were represented either by the law firms of Williams Bailey, Blizzard, McCarthy & Nabers, or by the firm of George Fleming & Associates, also of Houston.
Twenty-four out of the 30 were resolved in favor of Wyeth -- 10 by defense verdicts after trial, three by summary judgments in favor of Wyeth and 11 through dismissals by the plaintiffs themselves. Of the remaining six cases, one was settled before trial and five resulted in a plaintiff’s verdict. The average amount of the five plaintiff verdicts was $84,840. Each of those five cases has now also been settled.
“Each of these plaintiffs rejected the benefits of our nationwide diet drug settlement, choosing instead to exercise a downstream opt out. And, unlike the more than 30,000 downstream opt outs who have agreed to settle their opt out claims in a new settlement initiative we began last year, these claimants have refused to do so. We remain committed to defending at trial the cases of claimants who have now rejected these two reasonable settlement opportunities,” says Lawrence V. Stein, Wyeth’s Senior Vice President and General Counsel.
Wyeth is one of the world’s largest research-driven pharmaceutical and health care products companies. It is a leader in the discovery, development, manufacturing, and marketing of pharmaceuticals, vaccines, biotechnology products and nonprescription medicines that improve the quality of life for people worldwide. The Company’s major divisions include Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, Wyeth Consumer Healthcare and Fort Dodge Animal Health.
Wyeth
CONTACT: Media: Douglas Petkus, +1-973-660-5218, Investors: JustinVictoria, +1-973-660-5340, both of Wyeth
Web site: http://www.wyeth.com/
