Six weeks ago, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay $5.5 million in damages in a Florida lawsuit over a defective pain-killing patch that resulted in the death of a Florida man. While initially the company looked like it would appeal the judgment, they instead tried to settle it quietly for $2.5 million.

An excerpt from Bloomberg provided details on the J&J suit:

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay more than $2.5 million to settle claims that its Duragesic pain-killing patch caused the death of a Florida man, three people with direct knowledge of the accord said.

The agreement means Johnson & Johnson, the world’s largest medical-device maker, won’t have to pay $5.5 million in damages awarded by a jury in June to the family of Adam Hendelson, the people said. The jury concluded Hendelson overdosed on opiate fentanyl when his pain patch leaked the substance in 2003…

The jury in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, found that officials of the Johnson & Johnson units knew about defects in the patches and failed to properly warn doctors and consumers about their risks…

MacDonald, a partner in the law firm of MacDonald Rothweiler Eisenberg, said Johnson & Johnson ultimately may have to work out a global settlement of the 300 to 400 wrongful-death suits over the Duragesic patches. “They’ve lost the only two cases that have gone to trial so far,” he noted. “That should be an indicator to them of things to come.”

Commentary: J&J lost another case on the pain patch in Houston two weeks ago as well. This case reminds of the widely-read article in the Q2 edition of Ethisphere Magazine about the ethical lapses and mishaps which seem to be plaguing Johnson & Johnson – and which can be read here.