Last week, I mentioned that the Massachusetts Attorney General is seeking $191 million in punitive damages from New Merck, as a successor in interest to the above parties' Proventil® (Albuterol) pricing fraud case.
I understated the total, there. My apologies -- I neglected to triple the $4.6 million in actuals. And, to compound my obvious error, there, I neglected to add interest on that amount, from 2003, to the present -- that being the date these claims were first brought before the federal courts by the AG of Massachusetts.
So, three times the actual damages comes out to $37.7 million; and the statutory 7 percent annual interest rate -- over seven years -- pegs the total actuals at $60.5 million.
Those, added to the $191 million of punitives, yield a grand total of $251.5 million. Here is the relevant language -- from the AG's motion for judgment as a matter of law, filed last week in Boston:
. . . .The Commonwealth requests, consistent with the jury’s verdict, that the Court order Defendants to pay to the Commonwealth $4,563,328 (USD) in damages (plus prejudgment interest and costs), which amount must be trebled, plus $191,515,000 (USD) in civil penalties for violations of section 1 of the MFCA and $280,000 (USD) for violations of section 2 of the MFCA. The Commonwealth has attached hereto as Exhibit A a proposed final judgment. . . .
Sorry about that -- carry on.
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