Federal vioxx trial

Judge Eldon Fallon of the U. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana recently declared a mistrial in the Vioxx rofecoxib case after the nine-member jury deadlocked over the weekend after two days of deliberations. The lawsuit, Plunkett v. Meanwhile, the state judge overseeing the approximately 3, cased filed in the state of New Jersey, where Merck is headquartered, is still pushing to have some of the cases consolidated.

Judge Carol Higbee is requesting that the next Vioxx trial in her court be comprised of two cases. The next N. He added that Merck would be working with Higbee in the hopes of developing a "fair and orderly process for selecting the cases to be consolidated. Last month, Higbee said she also wanted to see the next cases involve only plaintiffs who took the drug for 18 months or longer.

Given that Merck's own study showed Vioxx can cause cardiovascular trouble in some patients after 18 months, such cases would obviously be harder to defend. Merck's attorneys said Monday that still plans to take on these long-term use cases, noting narrowing the cause of a heart attack or stroke down to just Vioxx can be hard to prove. Central to these cases will also be Merck's steadfast defense that in acted responsibly and in a timely manner when Vioxx's cardiovascular risks were eventually discovered.

Meanwhile, Merck's next state case in Texas is slated for March The next federal case, which will also be heard in Houston, is scheduled for February. Ethisphere magazine has released its list of the most ethical people in business. District Judge Eldon Fallon called the jurors in and reminded them they had agreed to reach a verdict in a "reasonable time. We cannot get a verdict," Fallon said, declaring a mistrial.

Federal litigation requires a unanimous verdict. The judge said he would confer with attorneys next week to set a retrial date. The trial was moved from there to Houston because of hurricane damage.

The jury couldn't decide whether Merck was liable in Richard "Dicky" Irvin's death and whether the company failed to issue safety warnings that the drug could have serious cardiovascular side effects. Beck said he had "no clue" what divided jurors or how the panel was split. He said Fallon instructed attorneys not to contact jurors, and "nobody knows what the division was. Beck, who said Merck was in Vioxx litigation "for the long haul," would present the same defense in a retrial.

Another trial is under way in Texas, and 10 more are scheduled in state and federal courts over the next six months. IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. NBC News Logo. Covid Politics U.