We blogged last year about a whopping $500 million punitive damages award out of state court in Las Vegas, based on allegations that the manufacturers and suppliers of the anesthetic Propofol acted with malice by supplying the drug in vials larger than necessary for single use, thereby tempting healthcare providers to reuse the vials.  That case is currently pending before the Nevada Supreme Court. 

Bloomberg now reports that another Vegas jury has awarded an additional $162 million in another lawsuit based on the same allegations.  And stay tuned, because a separate jury in the same courthouse has just awarded $14 million in compensatory damages in a similar case, and will consider punitive damages later this week.  (The defendants in these cases are Teva Parenteral Medicines Inc., Baxter Healthcare Corp., and McKesson Corp.)

UPDATE (10/13/11):  Bloomberg reports that jury #3 has awarded another $90 million in punitive damages.  So the defendants are looking at a combined $752 million in punitive damages in these three cases.