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No Straight Line? The University of California's famed Virologist Wendell M. Stanley took sharpest issue with Salk. A Nobel Prizewinner himself for original work in crystallizing viruses. Stanley flatly denied Salk's theory that formaldehyde kills polio virus particles in a neat, straight-line fashion. "I have seen many times where the curve does not follow that theory," he said—and not only in his own laboratory, but also in big vaccine factories. As for the testing methods before the "incident," Dr. Stanley declared: "In the light of subsequent knowledge, they were grossly inadequate." The implication: given the testing methods then in force plus a basically unpredictable method of vaccine-making, things could go wrong without any negligence.
The jurors took two days to decide, despite their admiration for Dr. Salk took Dr. Stanley's word that the testing methods were more to blame than Cutter. They voted, 10 to 2, that Cutter had not been guilty of negligence "under the conditions prevailing at the time." Even though they protested that the law of warranty as spelled out for them by the judge was "extremely harsh," they voted 11 to 1(a majority of nine would have been enough under California law) to award damages on this score: $131,500 to the Gottsdankers and $15,800 to the Phippses. As Cutter's attorneys got set to appeal, 44 others claiming to be victims of Cutter vaccine prepared to press suits totaling about $10,000,000.
*As did 125 close contacts (mostly kin) of those who got the vaccine. There were eleven deaths. Vaccine from Wyeth Laboratories was suspected of causing several cases of polio but no live virus was found in it.