Charles P. Goodell, Jr., Pamela J. Yates, David E. Dukes and Erik W. Legg Led Pfizer Trial Team to Defense Verdict

IADC members, Charles P. Goodell, Jr. of Goodell, Devries, Leech & Dann, LLP in Baltimore, Pamela J. Yates, with Kaye Scholer LLP's Los Angeles office, David E. Dukes of Nelson Mullins in Columbia, South Carolina, and local counsel Erik W. Legg with Farrell, White & Legg, PLLC in Huntington, West Virginia together with Andrew K. Solow of Kaye Scholer LLP's New York City office, led a Pfizer trial team that won a defense verdict after a lengthy jury trial in Charleston, West Virginia, last month.

The case, Hines v. Wyeth and Upjohn, case number 2:04-CV-00690, was tried in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia before Judge John T. Copenhaver, Jr. The plaintiff claimed that she regularly ingested Wyeth's Premarin and Prempro and Upjohn's Provera drugs from 1994 to 1999 and that these drugs caused her breast cancer. Defendants asserted that the drugs did not cause the plaintiff's breast cancer and that the defendants adequately warned the plaintiff of the risks associated with the drugs. Defendants also asserted that the plaintiff failed to file her lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations.

The plaintiff was represented by attorneys from Washington, D.C.; Portland, Oregon; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Charleston, West Virginia. The case was part of an MDL in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was remanded back to West Virginia for trial in April 2010.
Following a three-week trial, the jury found that the defendants' drugs did not cause the plaintiff’s breast cancer and that the plaintiff failed to timely file her lawsuit within the applicable statute of limitations.