Zyprexa News

Judge’s Ruling to Benefit Plaintiffs in Zyprexa Lawsuits

- April 10, 2006

Federal Judge Jack B. Weinstein has put a cap on attorney fees in Eli Lilly and Co.’s $700 million Zyprexa settlement, which means millions of dollars more in payout to the 8,000 patients who suffered serious injury due to the drug.

The new ruling scales the legal fees at 35 percent, which is slightly lower than the previous 37.5 percent cap.

Additionally, Weinstein gave four “special masters” who oversee the payouts the authorization to decrease the fees even further, to as low as 30 percent, or to raise them to 37.5 percent “on the basis of individual circumstances.”

Weinstein said that it was imperative that the court set attorney fees because “many of the individual plaintiffs are both mentally and physically ill and are largely without power or knowledge to negotiate fair fees.”

The Zyprexa lawsuit settlement will also pay a flat rate of $5,000 to plaintiffs who suffered the least severe damages. The judge has capped a legal fee of 20 percent to the non-negotiated payouts.

Last year, Eli Lilly negotiated the $700 million settlement to compensate the thousands of patients who claimed they suffered serious diabetes-related side effects, such as weight gain and high blood-sugar levels, as a direct result of the company’s best selling drug Zyprexa, used for the treatment of schizophrenia and manic depression.

The payout should start to be sent around June, said Nancy Hersh, a San Francisco attorney who has represented hundreds of plaintiffs in the Zyprexa suit. “I’m certain …the threshold has been met,” Hersh said. “That’s very good news to all the people who have been waiting patiently to be compensated.”

For more information on Zyprexa lawsuits, please contact us to confer with a Zyprexa attorney.

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