Court Overturns J&J Risperdal Verdict in California

A California appeals court overturned a $5.6 million Risperdal verdict against Johnson & Johnson’s pharmaceutical division, Janssen.

After Leo Liu, a participant in a 2009 clinical study for Janssen’s drug Risperdal, died of cardiac arrest five days after enrollment, his parents sued the company. In 2015, a Los Angeles County Superior Court found the pharmaceutical giant responsible for the man’s death and awarded Liu’s parents $8 million – which included $2.4 million from Liu’s psychiatrist.

The appeals court, however, overturned the verdict and ruled that the company did not “owe the deceased a duty of care for a preexisting heart condition,” citing insufficient evidence linking the death to the medicine.