Vioxx legal strategy failing for Merck

August 31, 2006

Filed under: Vioxx — Administrator @ 3:07 pm

While Merck was beating its drums after its two victories against

Stewart Grossberg and Elaine Doherty, the company got a reality

check when a jury awarded as much as $51 million to an ex-FBI agent

Gerald Barnett. The award was subsequently overturned by U.S.

District Court Judge Eldon Fallon for being excessive (while he

agreed that he may have his life reduced by as many as 10 years, he

was retired and unlikely to earn that kind of money) and a new trial

will decide the actual amount of compensation.

That is not where things end. Actually, it seems that the law is

finally catching up to hold Merck responsible for an estimated

60,000 American deaths due to Vioxx, whose dangers were deliberately

hidden by the company from physicians and patients.

In another major win for Vioxx victims, a New Jersey state judge has

set aside a November 2005 jury verdict in the lawsuit brought by

Frederick " Mike " Humeston, an ex-marine (twice decorated Vietnam

veteran). At that time, sadly for him, even though he suffered huge

health problems due to Vioxx, the jury decided to side with Merck.

Judge Carol Higbee has ruled that since then new evidence has come

that Merck manipulated the data that it published in the New England

Journal of Medicine about the safety of Vioxx and that is why a new

trial should be held. Merck's deliberate actions in hiding and

misrepresenting the facts about the safety of Vioxx have been

exposed during recent months.

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