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America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 15, The Verdict...And 'Moving On'

'Very Full, Pendulous Women's Breasts' The following are excerpts from Tom Kline’s closing argument for the plaintiff: Ivo Caers confirmed for us Table 21 was never reported to the FDA. … We know now what’s behind the tables: The little girls with the lactating breasts … and the little boys even under ten who have gynecomastia. My word. And when Dr. Kessler told us, ‘Red flag. This isn’t cherry picking.’ When a pharmaceutical company acting reasonably and prudently has this k

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 14, "The Good Soldier, The Good Mother, The Fade

Stepping Over Toys...And Onto the Stand Even one of the Johnson & Johnson's own employees hurt the cause when he was called as a witness for the other side. After the fighting over the Alabama doctor and his substitute, Kline questioned as a so-called hostile witness Jason Gilbreath, who had worked for Johnson & Johnson in the South for what he said was “15-plus years.” Gilbreath was the salesman who, according to records Kline’s side had subpoenaed, had called on Austin Pled

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 13, "Hardball"

A 'Hired Bazooka' Question: Mrs. Pledger, I think you told our jurors that during the time that you're taking Mr. Pledger to doctors while he was on Risperdal, none of his doctors ever diagnosed gynecomastia? Benita Pledger: I never heard of gynecomastia. And, no, they did not. Question: At some point … you saw a commercial on TV for a Plaintiff’s law firm about Risperdal and lawsuits running? … And it had a phone number 1-800, call if you have taken Risperdal? Pledger: It ha

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 12, "Showdown, Almost"

The 1-800 Cases Come To Philly Aside from Gorsky's deposition, Johnson & Johnson had still not had, or taken, the opportunity to offer its side of the story in any full-length, high profile adversarial hearing. But in a Philadelphia courtroom in September 2012, that faceoff seemed imminent. Local judges had ordered all of the personal injury cases Sheller had gathered through his own office and through referrals—by now numbering over 200—to consolidate under one set of deposi

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 11, "Fighting Over the Fine Print, Shielding the

Only For the Elderly, Only for a Short Period By fall 2013, the government and Johnson & Johnson had settled on a new number: $2.2 billion -- $50 million in criminal fines and forfeitures and $1.7 billion for civil damages. Of the total, $335 million was to settle the Omnicare Boston suit and the San Francisco suit related to the heart drug Natrecor. This made the Risperdal portion the largest settlement ever for the illegal marketing of one drug. As planned, Johnson & Johnso

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 10, "Chess at $1,000 An Hour"

The New CEO On February 21, 2012, five weeks after Johnson & Johnson paid $158 million to Texas and made Allen Jones a multimillionaire, the company announced that the board had appointed Alex Gorsky to succeed William Weldon as the new chief executive officer. The press release noted that Gorsky had begun at J&J in 1988 as a salesman for Janssen and then worked his way up to president of the unit. Although he had left in 2004 to run rival Novartis' North American division, h

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 9, "Under Siege, Ducking & Weaving"

'Vigorously Contesting the Allegations,' But... By March 2010, when Johnson & Johnson filed its financial disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission covering the events of the year 2009, the world's leading healthcare company was forced to list a daunting collection of suits and investigations involving Risperdal. Subpoenas seeking testimony of its executives "before a grand jury" had been received from the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia investigating the

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 8, "Firing Blanks, Hunting for Smoking Guns&quot

A Weak First Case On December 14, 2006, Stephen Sheller filed his first case against Johnson & Johnson. The client was a New Jersey boy who had taken Risperdal beginning in 2001. When he had met the boy and his mother, Sheller thought the case would be about diabetes and weight gain. But then she and her son became traumatized by his growing breasts, and in August 2004, he had radical surgery to remove them. Still, the suit focused on diabetes, and the complaint Sheller wrote

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 7, "A Multi-Front War"

Heavy Up Top Since he had begun taking Risperdal, Austin Pledger was having fewer tantrums. The reports Benita Pledger read from her son's school reflected what she was seeing at home: "His frustration behavior has greatly," his special education teacher wrote in April 2004. But it was far from a complete turnaround. Austin would still erupt in volatile behavior, biting himself or suddenly dropping to the floor and pounding his head. Benita and Phillip continued to dote on hi

America's Most Admired Lawbreaker: Chapter 6, "Trouble"

A Pest in Pennsylvania Allen Jones had had an uneventful career working as an investigator for the Office of Inspector General in Pennsylvania. But in July 2002, he noticed that a new account had been set up to receive payments from the Janssen division of Johnson & Johnson. What was that for? The bank account, he was told, was meant to cover travel expenses for health department officials so that they could examine a program that their colleagues in Texas had told them about

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The third-party articles that appear on this site are posted for informational and conversational purposes only, to present the latest news within the field and encourage the spreading of ideas. Any views or opinions expressed in the articles are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the company. Bay Coast Behavioral accepts no liability for the content and ideas presented in these articles, or any actions taken on the information provided.

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