Abbott Moves for Judgment or New Trial Following $15 Million Depakote Verdict

CHICAGO — Abbott Laboratories Inc. has moved for judgment as a matter of law or a new trial following a $15 million verdict issued in a Depakote birth defect action, arguing the evidence did not support the plaintiff's allegation that it did not warn of the risk of spina bifida.

In its July 11 motion filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Abbott further contends that there is insufficient evidence that a different warning would have caused the prescribing physicians to refuse to prescribe Depakote or would have caused the plaintiff’s mother to not take …