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Judge Cuts Award for Diluted Drug Patient

Posted on: Wednesday, 19 February 2003, 06:00 CST

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A judge upheld a verdict in favor of a cancer patient who received watered down drugs from a pharmacist, but cut damages from $2.2 billion to $330 million.

Circuit Judge Lee Wells ruled Tuesday in the case against Robert Courtney, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison in December after pleading guilty to diluting two cancer medications. He admitted in his plea agreement that he had been diluting drugs since 1992, affecting as many as 4,200 patients.

The $2.2 billion damage award, the second-largest in the nation last year, came in October in the case of Georgia Hayes, who brought the first of more than 400 lawsuits against Courtney.

Lawsuits also were filed against Courtney's pharmacy and the companies that made the drugs, Eli Lilly & Co. and Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

The lawsuits alleged that Courtney committed intentional wrongdoing and that the drug companies were negligent in failing to prevent his conduct.

The Hayes lawsuit against Courtney has been the only case to go to trial so far. Another case is scheduled for trial in May. The two pharmaceutical companies have settled their lawsuits.

The judge did not give a reason for reducing the damages.

Hayes' lawyer, Michael Ketchmark, said his client would accept the ruling.

"This case has never been about money. It's been about sending a message," Ketchmark said.

The largest verdict in the country last year, $28 billion against Philip Morris Inc. in a smoker's liability case in Los Angeles, was later reduced to $28 million.

Copyright © 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

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