Yall Politics

LNL BREAKING - Judge calls Jim Hood’s Zyprexa litigation style “slash-and-burn” after tossing case

Judge sides with Eli Lilly in Zyprexa case

Calling Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood's lawsuit against Eli Lilly & Co. a "slash-and-burn style of litigation," the federal judge overseeing Zyprexa lawsuits has granted Lilly summary judgment.

U.S. District Judge Jack Weinstein issued a 117-page order Tuesday that noted the benefits of Zyprexa in treating antipsychotics despite allegations of off-label marketing and weight gain-related side effects like diabetes while writing that lawyers for Mississippi failed to make a case for penalties.

Out of more than 40 states that filed claims against Lilly, Mississippi is one of the few that hasn't settled and the first to suffer such a setback. Hood's office did not respond to a message seeking comment.

. . .

Bailey Perrin, which donated $75,000 to Hood, is also representing the states of Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Louisiana. None of those three states have finalized settlements, but Louisiana appears to have reached a tentative one. The other two cases are in state court and have not reached tentative settlements yet.

Legal Newsline
12/1/9

Posted December 1, 2009 - 8:54 pm

6 Comments:

I will go so far as to say that I’ll be surprised if this gets coverage in any of the major state newspapers . . . but this is a big deal.

Posted by Alan on 12-01-2009 at 10:01 PM [link]

Incredible.

slash-and-burn-style of litigation would arguably constitute an abuse of the legal process.

courts cannot be used as an engine of an industry’s destruction

Under this constitutional fairness and equity standard, Mississippi’s requests for statutory penalties on a per-violation basis, in addition to actual damages sought, would result in a multi-billion dollar cumulative penalty grossly disproportionate to both the injury Mississippi has suffered and the seriousness of Lilly’s alleged misconduct.

Add that to “professional plaintiff”, the “state lawsuit racket”, the “pay to sue” business, “extremely litigious”, “problematic relationships” between plaintiffs and their counsel....

Posted by Just Me on 12-02-2009 at 12:14 PM [link]

I still have not seen anything in the Clarion Ledger, but I may have missed it. Anybody else?

Posted by reddneck on 12-07-2009 at 03:48 PM [link]

Well, it’s been almost two weeks. Not a single MS news outlet (that I’ve seen) has reported on this.

Posted by Alan on 12-14-2009 at 02:51 PM [link]

Are we going so far as to call the CL brochure a “news outlet”?

Posted by Shadyal on 12-15-2009 at 12:20 AM [link]

The CL apparently doesn’t want to report “bad” news about Jim Hood or Bennie Thompson.

Posted by josepacheco on 12-15-2009 at 05:39 PM [link]

You must be registered and logged in to post a comment. And yes, you can still keep your identity anonymous. See the instructions on the registration page.

Glossary