Trial Date Set for Next New Jersey Vioxx Suit
December 2, 2005 09:08

"A judge Thursday set a Jan. 30 trial date for the next New Jersey lawsuit against Merck & Co. over its once-popular painkiller Vioxx. After a daylong closed-door hearing with lawyers, Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee narrowed the list of potential cases to go to trial on that date to seven. In each, the plaintiffs are New Jersey residents who suffered heart attacks after taking the drug for 18 months or longer. One of the heart attacks was fatal. More than 3,400 cases blaming Merck for Vioxx-related injuries have been filed in New Jersey and all are consolidated under Higbee." Associated Press, Los Angeles Times, 11/18/05

"U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon ruled Nov. 16 that plaintiff lawyers in the trial starting Tuesday in Houston may present evidence that brief Vioxx use can trigger heart attacks and strokes, rejecting Merck's motion to throw out the case for insufficient evidence. The case involves a 53-year-old St. Augustine, Fla. seafood distribution manager, Richard Irvin, who had a fatal 2001 heart attack after just a month on the former blockbuster arthritis pill. Legal experts say Fallon's ruling blocked Merck's effort to squelch the roughly one-fourth of federal lawsuits involving short-term Vioxx use. 'It leaves Merck stuck with every dad-gum one of those cases,' said Houston lawyer Mark Lanier [ATLA Member], who in August won a $253.4 million verdict for the widow of a short-term Vioxx user in the first Vioxx trial." Associated Press/New York Times, 11/28/05.