<p><strong><span style="font-size: 1.2em;">UPDATE: Global Settlement Offer Made By Merck To End Vioxx Litigation According To November 9, 2007 News Reports</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 1.2em;"><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/09/business/09merck.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin">Merck Agrees to Settle Vioxx Suits for $4.85 Billion </a>(NY Times)</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119458553606887746.html">Merck Is Expected to Announce Vioxx Settlement of $4.85 Billion</a> (Wall Street Journal)</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=a1D3qr_7.TCo&refer=home">Merck May Pay $5 Billion to Settle Vioxx Cases, Lawyers Say</a> (Bloomberg)</p>
<p dir="ltr" style="MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px"> </p></span></strong></p>
Second Trial Postponed One Week; Possible Multiple Plaintiff Trials In Future
A July 13, 2006 Associated Press (AP) article by Janet Mcconnaughey brought the news that the second Vioxx trial in the federal court system will be delayed for a week due to recent health problems experienced by the plaintiff, Gerald D. Barnett. That case, captioned Barnett v. Merck, is now scheduled to start on July 31, 2006 in New Orleans. Mr. Barnett, who is 62-years old now, suffered a heart attack in 2002 after taking Vioxx for nearly three years.
According to the July 13 AP article, Mr. Barnett "was suffering from chest pain and required a stent to prop open one of his arteries."
Thousands of Vioxx cases filed in the federal court system are all currently pending in New Orleans before Judge Eldon E. Fallon as a result of the Multi-district Litigation (MDL) order imposed on those cases.
On another aspect of the Vioxx MDL litigation, a July 13, 2006 Wall Street Journal article by Peter Loftus and Heather Won Tesoriero informed us that Judge Fallon is telling the parties that he is considering the possibility of having multiple plaintiff trials in the future. According to this July 13 WSJ article:
Yesterday, Judge Eldon E. Fallon, the judge overseeing the federal suits, told lawyers he wants the parties to meet after the first series of federal trials is over and gauge where the litigation stands, according to Merck spokesman Tilden Katz. Judge Fallon said it is possible that any future cases might be tried in groups, consolidating multiple plaintiffs.
Up until this point in time, Merck and its lawyers have argued unsuccessfully against multiple plaintiff trials, at least in the state court systems. In New Jersey, Judge Carol Higbee has already had one such trial and she plans on more of these so-called "consolidated trials". Meanwhile in California, Judge Victoria Chaney had set multiple cases for the trial which is currently underway there, but for various reasons that first California Vioxx trial ended up involving just one case going forward, Grossberg v. Merck.
With the defense verdict that was rendered earlier this week in the New Jersey case of Doherty v. Vioxx case, Merck has prevailed in four of the seven Vioxx cases that have gone to trial thus far.
Lastly, Merck's general counsel Kenneth C. Frazier reiterated Merck's intent to "defend these cases on a case-by-case basis" in a press release issued by Merck following the Doherty verdict.
(Posted by: Tom Lamb)