According to Bloomberg, on December 8, 2010, an 82-year-old Minnesota man won $1 million in punitive damages from Johnson & Johnson, after he claimed that it failed to properly warn of the risks of tendon damage linked to its antibiotic, Levaquin. Also in Minnesota, $700,000 was awarded to John Schedin, a man who sued J&J and its Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals unit in 2008, after he ruptured both Achilles tendons following his Levaquin use.

In the United States, there are approximately 2,600 claims that Levaquin caused tendon damage to its users. As of 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required makers of related drugs to include warnings on the risk of tendon ruptures. The risk was higher in patients older than 60, those taking steroids, and recipients of kidney, heart or lung transplants, the FDA said.