A jury awarded $28 million in punitive damages in Pennsylvania state court to a plaintiff who claimed her use of Pfizer Inc.'s hormone-therapy drugs caused breast cancer. The jury had awarded $6.3 million in compensatory damages to the plaintiff, Donna Kendall, of Decatur, IL. The jury found that Pfizer units had engaged in a pattern of willful and reckless conduct. Wyeth was the primary seller of hormone-therapy drugs, and Pfizer recently acquired the company. A separate Pfizer unit, Upjohn, was a defendant in the case.
