Woman in $58 million lawsuit ruling dies

RENO -- Pamela Forrester, one of three Northern Nevada women who were awarded millions in damages against pharmaceutical giant Wyeth earlier this year, died Thursday. She was 65.

The Yerington woman was under hospice care for lung cancer, attorney Geoff White said.

"One of her best events was her ability to get some degree of justice from Wyeth, even though she knew she was going to die," White told the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Forrester and Arlene Rowatt, 67, of Incline Village, and Jeraldine Scofield, 74, of Fallon, were awarded $58 million after a jury found that one of Wyeth's drugs, Prempro, caused their breast cancer.

It is the largest award to date against the Madison, N.J.-based company, which faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country in state and federal courts.

All involve the drugs Premarin, an estrogen replacement, and Prempro, a combination of estrogen and progestin. The drugs are prescribed to women to ease menopause symptoms.

Wyeth has appealed the award to the Nevada Supreme Court.