PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release
MISTRIAL DECLARED IN LENGTHY REZULIN CASE JUST AS JURY REACHES VERDICT IN FAVOR OF PLAINTIFF
San Antonio, Texas
An odd ending to a marathon trial. The ease of Dana Lefler versus Warner Lambert started last Fall with 4 weeks of pretrial hearings. It resumed this Spring with 5 more weeks of pretrial matters. Finally a jury was selected the first week of April. Eight weeks later, the jury voted 10-2 in favor of the Plaintiffs and was finalizing their multi-million dollar damages verdict when the trial judge declared a mistrial.
Dana Lefler ease was the ninth Rezulin case to go to trial and would have brought the verdict count to 6 wins for the Plaintiffs versus 3 losses. Instead this hotly contested case had been reset to start all over again next year.
Dana Lefler took Rezulin from July of 1997 to November of 1998. He had pre-existing cirrhosis (likely for more than ten years) and had experienced two episodes of hepatic confusion before being prescribed Rezulin. While taking the drug, his liver symptoms became worse while his liver enzymes remained normal. In fact, his treating doctors diagnosed his liver disease as inactive durin this time (because of his nonnal blood test results) and could not understand his symptomatic decompensation. In the Fall of 1998, during a gallbladder surgery, the surgeon performed a liver biopsy which showed active inflammation, evidence of apoptosis cell death and fat accumulation. Dana Lefler was removed from Rezulin but his liver condition remains severe.
Warner Larnbert argued at trial that Dana Lefler could not have experienced a Rezulin injury because he did not have any of the “fingerprint” Rezulin markers including elevated liver enzyme tests, jaundice or liver cell necrosis. The defense experts opined that Dana Lefler’s decompensation was a natural progression of end stage cirrhosis and was not accelerated by Rezulin. Plaintiffs argued that Rezulin caused a “silent injury” through apoptosis cell death and that liver enzyme testing is ineffective at diagnosing a Rezulin liver injury.
The case started in October of 2002 with dozens of pretrial motions for summary judgment, Daubert expert challenges and scores of motions in limine. Pretrial hearings continued in February and throughout March on the admissibility of documents and deposition testimony. After weeks of preparation, jury selection finally started on April 1, 2003. The trial lasted eight weeks. During the second day ofjury deliberations, the Plaintiff Dana Lefler collapsed in the courtroom. An ambulance was called and one of the jurors observed the paramedics going into the courtroom. That juror inappropriately remarked to a defense lawyer about the situation. Both sides moved for a mistrial based upon juror misconduct and Judge Berchelmann granted the mistrial. However, as the judge went to inform the jury, he found instead that they had reached a verdict for the Plaintiffs on all liability issues as well as many of the damages issues.
Attached is a copy of one of the juror’s confirmation of the jury’s deliberations and partial verdict. This juror is willing to talk to reporters about the jury deliberations, the jury’s thoughts as well as the details of the case.
Defense counsel:
Sawnie McBntyre
Tom Sartwelle
Beirne Maynard & Parsons
Houston, Texas
Plaintiff counsel:
Zoe Littlepage
Rainey Booth
Littlepage Booth
Houston, Texas
For more information Contact April Cowgill at 850-572-8592 or april@littlepagebooth.com.
Click here for one of the juror's confirmation of the jury's deliberations and partial verdict. (Require Adobe Acrobat Reader)