Judge OKs Health Plans' Suit Against Merck
July 30, 2005 17:53

In the latest blow for beleaguered drug maker Merck & Co., a New Jersey judge has ruled health plans that paid for members' Vioxx prescriptions can sue as a class to recover billions of dollars they spent on the recalled painkiller.Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee in Atlantic City late Friday granted a motion filed by a labor union health plan to allow a nationwide class-action lawsuit to proceed under the New Jersey Consumer Fraud Act. Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, N.J., had opposed the motion, which was filed by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 68 Welfare Fund.

As a result, Merck & Co. will have to defend itself in a class-action lawsuit over its Vioxx painkiller in New Jersey, a state judge has ruled.

In her ruling, Higbee said about 2,200 Vioxx lawsuits have been filed in New Jersey, the largest number of personal injury suits to be filed in any state.