Texas Judge Cites Lilly Profits in Rejecting Company's Zyprexa Fee Request

BROWNSVILLE, Texas - Noting that Eli Lilly & Co. made nearly $3 billion in 2007, a federal judge has refused to award the company attorney fees after it successfully argued that a plaintiff's Zyprexa suit was barred by the learned intermediary doctrine. Ebel v. Eli Lilly & Co., No. 04-194 (S.D. Texas).

In a Sept. 22 ruling, Judge Hilda G. Tagle of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that Lilly's "enormous financial resources" and the plaintiff's good faith initiation of the suit precluded a nearly $34,000 request for fees by the manufacturer's counsel.

Eli Lilly …