$84 Million Awarded to Abbott Laboratories in Claim Dispute

An Illinois appeals court has upheld an $84.5 million insurance award to drugmaker Abbott Laboratories in a breach-of-contract claim against several Lloyd’s of London syndicate underwriters. The case concerns the question of who should bear the cost of the Italian government’s March 2002 recall of a prescription anti-obesity drug, Meridia, that had been manufactured by Knoll Pharmaceutical Co., which Abbott Laboratories acquired in 2000, according to Monday’s ruling by the Illinois Appellate Court in Chicago in Certain Underwriters at Lloyd’s, London et al. v. Abbott Laboratories.