A tort reform expert said in a conference call today he was puzzled at how a jury could find two drug manufacturers liable for the transmission of hepatitis C to a patient at a Las Vegas endoscopy clinic.
Victor Schwartz, general counsel to the American Tort Reform Association, said his review of the case raises questions of how the jury could even get to the point of finding the drug maker responsible, let alone agree next on a massive $500 million punitive damage award.
Schwartz, who said he has no financial interest in the case, made his comments during a telephone conference call with a number of Nevada news media hosted by the Nevada News Bureau. He did not attend the trial but reviewed the facts of the case.
Schwartz said there are three ways to show a product is defective: That the product was manufactured improperly, that it was defective in design, or that there was a failure to warn of how to use the product. None of these issues can be found in the case, he said.
A Clark County District Court jury on Friday awarded the punitive damages to Henry and Lorraine Chanin, who filed suit after Henry Chanin contracted hepatitis C during a colonoscopy at Desert Shadow Endoscopy Center in Las Vegas in 2008. The award was made against Teva Parenteral Medicines and Baxter Healthcare Corp., which manufacture the anesthetic propofol used in endoscopy procedures.
