
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, December 4, 1994                   TAG: 9412050072
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA                                 LENGTH: Medium

JUDGE UPHOLDS TYLENOL DAMAGES

A former White House aide who claimed that ordinary doses of the pain reliever Tylenol destroyed his liver is a step closer to receiving an $8 million damage award, but the manufacturer says the case isn't over.

In a ruling Friday, U.S. District Judge Albert V. Bryan Jr. denied a request for a new trial by McNeil Consumer Products Co., a division of Johnson & Johnson.

McNeil was sued by Antonio Benedi, a former special assistant to President Bush, who said his liver had been ``sensitized'' to react to Tylenol by his habit of drinking wine with dinner every day. When he took the drug for several days to combat the flu, he lapsed into a coma and was hospitalized.

A six-member jury in October awarded Benedi $7.855 million in compensatory damages and $1 million in punitive damages. In his ruling, Bryan reduced the punitive damages to $350,000 to comply with a cap imposed by Virginia law.

``The court concludes that there was more than adequate evidence to support a finding of willfulness, particularly defendant's instructions to its sales personnel not to initiate discussions with doctors'' on the interaction between alcohol and Tylenol, and liver damage, Bryan wrote.

Patrick A. Malone, Benedi's attorney, has maintained that the manufacturer knew of the danger of mixing the habitual use of alcohol with the popular pain reliever but failed to warn the public.

Johnson & Johnson has maintained that a virus destroyed Benedi's liver, and that Tylenol played no role.

The company plans to appeal the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, said spokesman Jeff Leebaw.

Malone said Benedi, who has had a liver transplant, is losing his kidneys because of anti-rejection drugs and eventually will have to start kidney dialysis. Benedi said his medical bills have topped $325,000 and that his medications cost about $2,000 monthly.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel recommended last year that Tylenol and several other types of over-the-counter pain relievers carry alcohol warning labels. Some Tylenol products do carry the warning label now, but not the Extra Strength Tylenol that Benedi used.

by CNB