Are Accutane lawsuits winning? Yes -- emphatically.
So far in just six cases brought to trial in the United States, juries have found in favor of plaintiffs each time. That means Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche Holding AG, also called Roche Pharmaceuticals or Hoffmann LaRoche Inc., has been the loser.
Indeed, jury awards so far have reached a total of more than $56 million, with that money going to victims of defective acne drug Accutane and its harmful Accutane side effects.
Even so, Roche has raked in more than $1 billion in profits annually by marketing and selling its defective acne medication, which went on the market in 1982. And considering the suffering its defective drug has caused, Roche has barely begun to compensate the many victims of failed drug Accutane.
Yet justice is just beginning for Roche’s negligence in selling its defective acne medication.
In early 2010, a New Jersey Superior Court awarded a single Accutane victim over $25 million. That was in the case of McCarrell v. Hoffmann LaRoche Inc.
Roche was guilty of violating New Jersey's consumer fraud law, the jury found. Its victim in this case, Andrew McCarrell of Birmingham, AL, had endured an inflammatory bowel disease, or IBD, upon being prescribed Accutane, and his injury was so serious that surgeons had to remove his colon after several earlier surgeries to try to address it.
Almost all of McCarrell’s jury award constituted what is known as compensatory damages. Such damages are designed to compensate victims for the losses they suffered as a result of the defendant’s negligence. Punitive damages, which are considered punishment, have not yet been awarded.
Roche actually had a far better verdict in the same case in 2007, when a jury awarded McCarrell only $2.62 million. When Roche appealed the case was tried again, leading to the much higher jury award of $25 million in compensatory damages and $159,000 for McCarrell’s medical bills.
An additional case tried in New Jersey, home of Roche’s American operations, resulted in plaintiff Kamie Kendall receiving a jury award of $10,578,500 for compensatory damages for her injury, an IBD called ulcerative colitis. As in McCarrell’s case, the jury found that Roche had failed to alert the Accutane user and her doctor of the serious side effects possible from using Accutane.
Another New Jersey jury gave three men a total award of almost $13 million for Accutane side effects injuries. And the list goes on.
In the face of its mounting legal battles and clear failure in providing a harmful drug in Accutane, Roche recalled the acne drug from the American market in 2009 (but still sells it in other countries.) But that doesn’t mean Accutane lawsuits can’t continue. On the contrary, victims of Accutane injury can pursue Accutane lawsuits throughout America, where hundreds of such suits already have been filed.
In the event that you or a family member has endured an IBD such as ulcerative colitis or Crohn’s disease after consuming prescription drug Accutane, you have a legal right to seek a jury award of your own. And contacting Accutane-Lawsuit-Lawyer.com is a place to start.
Simply submit the free case review form on this Web page, or call toll-free to 1-800-339-0606, and a legal representative will respond promptly, helping you to assess your prospects for an Accutane lawsuit. So far juries are favoring victims, but the only way such favorable verdicts can be attained is by first filing an Accutane lawsuit on your behalf.