Continuing the trend to resolve tort claims with trusts, Foley Hoag’s CSR blog has the story on a Pfizer’s new use of an existing private trust to resolve tort claims. The newly added claims arise from drug testing in Africa, and are said to offer payouts of up to $ 175,000 per claimant. Key excerpts are below, but the entire article is worth reading and includes additional links:
"Pfizer faced pressure as the result of a recent increase in the level of media attention to the case. The heightened scrutiny came about, at least in part, as the result of disclosures in certain diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks, which called into question the propriety of Pfizer’s efforts to settle two related cases brought in Nigeria. Those cases were settled in July 2009 for a total of $75 million and attorneys fees.
The most recent settlement, the specific terms of which are confidential, reportedly allows a maximum of $175,000 to be paid per child to people who can prove death or permanent disability due to the 1996 trial. Any payments would come from a $35 million trust fund set up as part of the earlier settlement of the Nigerian claims."