A Reno, Nevada, jury today reduced a $135 million judgment rendered earlier this week against the drugmaker by $100 million, because some jurors thought the initial verdict was supposed to include punitive damages. And so Nevada state court judge Robert Perry instructed the five-man, two-woman jury to reconsider after the matter was brought to his attention by a bailiff, who overheard discussion in the jury room.

“If we don’t correct it now, we’ll be trying this case again,” the judge said, according to the Associated Press.

After deliberating for about three hours today, the jurors awarded $35 million to three Nevada women for past and future medical expenses, as well as physical and emotional pain and suffering. The women claimed Wyeth’s Prempro and Premarin hormone replacement drugs caused their breast cancer. The jury returns to court Monday to consider awarding punitive damages.

But the judge twice denied a motion by Wyeth lawyer Dan Webb to declare a mistrial over the jury’s confusion. Webb argued that jurors were predisposed to punish the drugmaker before the punitive phase of the trial had begun, the AP writes. The judge said jurors raised questions expressing their confusion during the initial deliberations, but Wyeth lawyers wouldn’t allow an explanation.

The panel deliberated for two days earlier this week before reaching its initial verdict. The judgment remains the largest award to date against Wyeth, which faces about 5,300 similar lawsuits across the country in state and federal courts. Under the revised judgment, jurors awarded $10.5 million to Jeraldine Scofield, 74, of Fallon; $12 million to Arlene Rowatt, 67, of Incline Village; and $12.5 million to Pamela Forrester, 65, of Yerington.

During the trial, Wyeth lawyers argued that the drugs were safe and approved by the FDA, and said risk info was included with every prescription and provided to the women’s doctors. They also argued that the women had other risk factors, making it impossible to link their cancer to the hormone replacement drugs.

But Wyeth reached an undisclosed settlement in October 2006 with a fourth Nevada woman who had been part of the lawsuit. Carol McCreary of Reno was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001 after taking Prempro for about three years. Her case was settled just days before her trial was to begin. McCreary, 59, died in April.