Beshear Returns Nearly $8 Million To General Fund In Current Fiscal Year

As the current fiscal year ends, Attorney General Andy Beshear today announced that his office has returned nearly $8 million to the state’s General Fund from a variety of civil settlements over the last 12 months.

Included in that amount is $574,000 Beshear returned today to the state’s General Fund from a settlement with a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary. Combined with Beshear’s Bryant Heating and Cooling Co. Inc. settlement, the AG’s office has secured more than $1 million for the state this week.

The Johnson & Johnson settlement resolves allegations that McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division, which is now a division of Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc., promoted over-the-counter drugs as complying with federally mandated manufacturing standards even though the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found that some of its manufacturing facilities were not in compliance with federal standards between 2009 and 2011.

The drugs include Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, St. Joseph Aspirin, Sudafed, Pepcid, Mylanta, Rolaids, Zyrtec and Zyrtec Eye Drops – all manufactured and distributed by McNeil Consumer Healthcare Division.

“At a time when the state is facing a projected current fiscal year budget shortfall of $113 million, I’m proud my office is doing its part to secure millions of dollars for our state coffers,” Beshear said.

These civil settlements include Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems Inc. (MERS), Volkswagen, Hyundai-Kia, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Western Union, Target, Bryant Heating and Cooling Co. Inc. and Johnson & Johnson Consumer Inc.

Beshear is currently in civil litigation against Johnson & Johnson and its medical device unit, Ethicon, for its deceptive marketing of surgical transvaginal mesh.