Judge Slashes Punitives, Upholds Jury’s Finding in Hormone Replacement Therapy Case

In an opinion reducing punitive damages awarded to a breast cancer survivor by almost $70 million, Senior Judge Norman Ackerman has become the first Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge to uphold a jury finding that drugmaker Wyeth failed to warn a plaintiff's prescribing physician of the dangers of breast cancer from using Wyeth's hormone therapy drugs. Both the plaintiff and the defendant in the case could claim wins and losses from Ackerman's opinion.