A New York jury last week found pharmaceutical maker Warner-Lambert liable in a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed over the withdrawn diabetes drug Rezulin. Attorneys representing Concepcion Morgado alleged Warner-Lambert, which was acquired by Pfizer Inc. in June 2000, misrepresented the drug and "omitted material information about Rezulin to physicians, including Mrs. Morgado's physician." The Manhattan jury ordered Pfizer to pay $2 million in compensatory damages but no punitive damages.

The verdict is a welcomed change for personal injury attorneys involved in Rezulin litigation. In February, a Texas jury ruled in favor of Pfizer Inc. in a lawsuit filed by the family of a man who died in 1998 after taking the drug. In September, a U.S. District Court judge in New York denied class action status for 4,000 plaintiffs suing Pfizer Inc. over Rezulin.