Appeals Court Vacates $12 Million Punitive Award in Parlodel Case

FRANKFORT, Ky. - The Kentucky Court of Appeals recently vacated a punitive damages award of nearly $12 million to the family of a woman who died in 1993 while taking the breast milk suppressant drug Parlodel. Sandoz Pharmaceuticals Corp. v. Gunderson, et al., No. 2004-CA-1536; Hyman & Armstrong, et al. v. Gunderson, et al., No. 2004-CA-1537 (Ky. Ct. App.).

While the matter of punitive damages was remanded on Oct. 21 to the Jefferson County (Ky.) Circuit Court, the three-judge appellate court panel affirmed, on a 2-1 vote, the trial court's compensatory damages award of nearly $8 million to the …