An Oklahoma judge this week acknowledged that he made a calculation error worth over 100 million dollars, during a prominent case regarding the states opioid crisis earlier this year.
As StateImpact reports, on Tuesday Oklahoma District Court Judge Thad Balkman acknowledged that his ruling, which ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay 572 million dollars, included a substantial math error.
Balkman had said that he wanted the drug maker to pay 107 million dollars for treating addicted babies. In reality, he intended to order Johnson & Johnson to pay only 107,000.
Joking with attorneys during his announcement, Balkman said, “That will be the last time I use that calculator!” However, the announcement may raise eyebrows among Oklahoma health and addiction advocates, as Balkman’s original ruling already included a substantially lower award than the state had requested.
The correction to the mistake will bring the award amount down below five hundred million dollars.
