J&J found not liable in Calif. Motrin lawsuit

Johnson & Johnson on Thursday won a lawsuit brought by the family of an 11-year-old girl who became blind after using the drug Children’s Motrin in 2003.

The painkiller is made by Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil consumer healthcare unit.

The jury voted 9-3 against liability, after a six week trial. Jurors decided that J&J had put a drug on the market known to cause sickness and illness, without warning customers, but also found that it had not been proved that Children’s Motrin caused the girl, Sabrina Johnson, to go blind.

“There will be no award,” Browne Green, an attorney for the plaintiffs told reporters.

He said in a statement that the case would be appealed.

The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court had alleged that the company failed to label the over-the-counter pain reliever with a warning that it could lead to a rare, but potentially fatal allergic reaction with severe rash of the skin and mucous membranes.

J&J had argued that the condition, known as Stevens-Johnson Syndrome, could not be directly attributed to Motrin.

Ibuprofen, a widely used pain reliever, is the active ingredient in Motrin, Advil and a variety of other medicines.

The company maintained that its product was safe and that packaging materials adequately warned that a doctor should be consulted if any change of medical condition occurred after a young person was given Children’s Motrin.

The family of Sabrina Johnson had sought $14 million in actual damages, $103 million for the girl’s and the family’s pain and suffering, and punitive damages of $950 million.

The girl had testified that the undersides of her eyelids felt like sandpaper and that she spent months in a large cardboard box during daylight hours to avoid intense pain in her eyes.

Stevens-Johnson and toxic epidermal necrolysis, a related ailment, are very rare and estimates of the incidence of the conditions vary.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters)