A federal jury today awarded pharmaceutical giant Allergan a tiny fraction of the millions of dollars it requested in a false advertising suit brought against Ellis George client Imprimis Pharmaceuticals. Allergan requested over $7.2 million in lost profits and as much as $54 million in disgorged profits, but the jury awarded Allergan just $48,500 for lost profits and zero dollars for disgorged profits.
Earlier this year, Judge David O. Carter of the Central District of California ruled that statements in Imprimis’s advertisements violated the Lanham Act. The jury was thus charged with deciding only whether such statements harmed Allergan’s business and whether Allergan was entitled to damages. In closing argument, Ellis George partner Keith J. Wesley argued Allergan had not proven it should receive damages, noting that Allergan had not put a single doctor on the stand and failed to present any evidence that Imprimis’s advertisements affected Allergan’s sales. After deliberating for just over four hours, the jury awarded less than 1% of the damages Allergan had requested. Wesley tried the case along with Daniel Rasmussen of Payne & Fears, and was assisted by Carl Roth, Matthew Venezia, and David Kim of Ellis George.
