Jury Awards $8 Billion In Risperdal Suit Against Johnson & Johnson Subsidiary

A Philadelphia jury on Tuesday hit Johnson & Johnson with an $8 billion verdict over its marketing of the anti-psychotic drug Risperdal, siding with a Maryland man who argued that the health care giant downplayed risks that the drug could lead to breast growth in boys.

The verdict in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas was the first to award punitive damages against Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, said Thomas R. Kline, a lawyer who is part of a legal team representing the man and more than 10,000 people in similar lawsuits.

Compensatory damages of $680,000 were already awarded in the case in March 2016.

The plaintiff, Nicholas Murray, sued the company in 2013.