New York Times - May 14, 1991
Almost nine years after seven Chicago-area residents died from swallowing Tylenol capsules laced with cyanide, the manufacturer has agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to the families of the victims.
The settlement brings to an end all litigation surrounding the poisonings, which remain one of the country's great unsolved mysteries. It was reached as jury selection was to begin in a wrongful-death lawsuit against the manufacturer, McNeil Consumer Products Company, a division of Johnson & Johnson, in Cook County Circuit Court.
In agreeing to the settlement, the manufacturer stood by its argument that it had nothing to do with the poisonings and that it was as much a victim as the people who died.
"Though there is no way we could have anticipated a criminal tampering with our product or prevented it, we wanted to do something for the families and finally get this tragic event behind us," said Robert Kniffin, a spokesman for Johnson & Johnson.
Details of the settlement were sealed by Judge Warren Wolfson of Cook County Circuit Court, and neither the families' lawyers nor the company would say what form the compensation would take. More Than Enough for College
But Bruce Pfaff, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, described the agreement as "a very favorable settlement for my clients."
When the lawsuits were first filed in the mid-1980's, several of the families were seeking between $10 million and $15 million for wrongful death, pain and suffering and funeral expenses.
Philip H. Corboy, another of the families' lawyers, said a portion of the settlement would be in the form of annuities to pay the college costs of the victims' eight children.
"It is more than adequate compensation to protect these children for whatever needs they have," Mr. Pfaff said.
The end of the litigation does not solve the poisonings in late September 1982 when four women, two men and a 12-year-old girl swallowed adulturated Tylenol bought in the Chicago area. The authorities know that someone opened the capsules and replaced some of the acetaminophen with cyanide and returned them to the shelves, but they do not know who did it or why. Extortion But No Murder Charge
James Lewis, a tax consultant, admitted sending an extortion letter to Johnson & Johnson, demanding $1 million "to stop the killing." He is serving a 10-year Federal prison sentence but has not been charged in the murders.
In their lawsuit, the families' lawyers contended that McNeil had been careless in its packaging and that it should have known the product could have been tampered with before "putting it into the stream of commerce."
Today, after the settlement, the families' lawyers praised the manufacturer for the swift action it took after the poisonings, recalling the capsules within days and introducing tamper-resistant tablets shaped like capsules within months, which set a standard for the industry.
"Liability will never again be brought into the forefront," Mr. Corboy said. "The public has already been protected. The product has been changed such that it will never happen again."
1986 Tylenol Murder Lawsuit
In November 1988 Judge Gerhard Goettel dismissed the liability lawsuit against J&J, McNeil Consumer Products, and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), saying that the companies could not be held responsible for the action of "an unknown third party," or for "a wrong that they did not truly commit."
The injustice of Judge Goettel's ruling is that the tampering wasn't done by an "unknown third party." The tampering was done by, or with the assistance of, an employee who worked for a known third party within the distribution channel.
The judge absolved J&J and A&P from any liability on the basis of false information. Had Judge Goettel known that the Tylenol capsules were poisoned during distribution at a facility operated by J&J or one of its customers, and that J&J and A&P executives must have known where the tampering occurred, Judge Goettel may have decided that J&J and A&P were liable for the deaths caused by adulterated Tylenol.
Had the judge known the truth about the packaging and distribution of Tylenol and the FBI's bogus inspection of the tamper-resistant packaging, he would have concluded the Tylenol capsules must have been filled with cyanide before the Tylenol was packaged, and therefore, the tampering had to have occurred within the distribution channel before the Tylenol was delivered to the A&P store.
Judge Goettel apparently didn't know that the Chicago area Jewel Food facility that handled the Tylenol laced with cyanide in 1982, also shipped to the Bronxville A&P store the Tylenol that was laced with cyanide in 1986.
Tylenol Maker is Absolved in Poison Death of Woman
White Plains NY (UPI) - November 16, 1988
A federal judge absolved the maker of Extra-Strength Tylenol in the death of a woman killed by poisoned capsules, saying the company could not be held responsible for the action of "an unknown third party." Judge Gerhard Goettel, who dismissed the 1986 liability suit on the product tampering case Tuesday, emphasized that Diane Elsroth, 23, of Peekskill, N.Y., died from tainted Tylenol capsules that were enclosed in a sealed package, but that the company couldnot be held liable for " a wrong that they did not truly commit." - Elsroth v JNJ, McNeil Lab, A&P
"An unknown third parry purchased or stole the Extra-Strength Tylenol ...breached the packaging, and substituted cyanide for some of the medicine contained in several of the gelatin capsules," Goettel said in his ruling. "That individual replaced the now contaminated capsules in the containerand somehow was able to reseal the container and box in such a way that the tampering was not readily detectable," the judge said. No arrests have been made in the case.
The judge said the case left "difficult questions regarding the extent to which society is prepared to hold manufacturers and retailers liable for product tampering by third parties."
The suit was filed by a relative of Elsroth against McNeil Consumer Products Co., a division of Johnson & Johnson, and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. Inc. Elsroth died Feb. 8, 1986, after taking two Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules from a bottle bought in an A&P store in Bronxvillc, N.Y.
Seven people died in the Chicago area in 1982 from tainted Tylenol capsules, and Elsroth's death set off a new nationwide scare that was fanned when five more tainted capsules were found shortly afterward in a Woolworth's store less than a mile from the Bronxville A&P. Thirty-four states ordered the medication pulled from their shelves after Elsroth's death, and Johnson & Johnson stopped producing the capsules, substituting caplets and tablets.
Testimony in pre-trial depositions showed the mother of Elsroth's boyfriend, Harriet Notamicola of Yonkers, N.Y., bought a box of the over-the counter painkiller from the A&P in Bronxville on Feb. 4,1986. She said the package did not appear to be tampered with, and put it in her "food closet" Late on the night of Feb. 7, Elsroth was visiting her boyfriend, Michael Notamicola, and complained of a headache.
Notamicola went to the closet for the Extra-Strength Tylenol his mother had bought and, according to depositions, noted' 'nothing unusual about the packaging." He gave two capsules and a glass of water to his girlfriend and she retired for the night feeling ill. She was found dead in the morning.
"The medical examiner concluded that the Tylenol capsules she ingested were contaminated by a lethal dose of potassium cyanide," said Goettel. "The murder remains unsolved."
Notamicola testified the flaps to the box were glued shut, the shrink seal on the bottle did not appear to be disturbed and the foil seal further securing the capsules had not been broken, the 42-page decision said.
The Elsroth poisoning and the earlier 1982 deaths prompted most manufacturers of medications to wrap them in tamper-resistant packaging that warns consumers not to purchase the product if safety seals have been broken.