Vioxx Lawsuit DC

Taken by around 20 million people, Vioxx was one of the leading arthritis painkillers on the market until its withdrawal in September 2004. To date, attorneys have filed over 10,000 lawsuits and 190 class action lawsuits across the US as a result of health implications and deaths allegedly caused by Vioxx.

Vioxx, also known as Ceoxx and Ceeoxx, was first approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 20, 1999. The active ingredient, Rofecoxib, was said to treat osteoarthritis, acute pain conditions, and dysmenorrhoea with far fewer side effects than similar drugs. However, what later emerged is that Vioxx could potentially cause serious cardiovascular problems, including heart attack and stroke.

The first lawsuit was won by the plaintiff in August 2005, with a Texas jury voting 10-2 to hold Merck liable for the death of a former user of Vioxx. This landmark case opened up the possibility of many more lawsuits against Merck, and indeed many more successful cases have since been filed. In anticipation of many legal battles, Merck has reserved $1.64 billion in its Vioxx legal defense fund. With only a small percentage of cases having come to court, it seems that there is still a very long road ahead for Merck and the alleged victims of Vioxx.

The first of many cases against Merck in the Vioxx scandal, this case involved the widow of a user of the drug. Represented by Vioxx attorney, Mark Lanier, Ms Ernst filed the first Vioxx claim, which went to court in August 2005. The Texas jury found Merck to be negligent in the death of 59-year-old Robert Ernst and was ordered to pay $253.4 million. Mark Lanier is now considered to be one of the most successful Vioxx lawyers, and has gone on to represent more victims of the drug.

Robert Ernst had started using Vioxx eight months prior to his death and regularly participated in sports. The inquest into his death ruled that arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, was the cause - and this was attributed to Vioxx by the attorney. The case lasted five weeks, during which the twelve-member jury heard compelling evidence against Merck and their Vioxx drug. The Brazoria County jurors awarded the plaintiff $24 million in actual, or compensatory, damages, and then another $229 million in punitive damages, for a total of around $253 million. Merck lawyers, however, vowed to appeal the ruling stating that, "We believe that the plaintiff did not meet the standard set by Texas law to prove Vioxx caused Mr. Ernst's death."

Following the revelations that Vioxx could have been the cause behind hundreds of its users’ heart attacks and strokes, many victims organized themselves into "class actions.” A class action lawsuit, under United States law, allows a number of people to pursue a case that asks common questions of law and fact. In simple terms, a class action allows a group of people to amalgamate their separate claims as one lawsuit against a common defendant. This kind of lawsuit is often used in the aftermath of airline accidents, public disasters, and other incidents involving many plaintiffs.

Following the landmark win of the first Merck Vioxx lawsuit, many alleged victims organized themselves into class actions, with joint representation against Merck. The benefits of these class actions resulted in lower fees from the Vioxx lawyers and stronger cases with combined evidence. However, in November 2006, Judge Eldon Fallon refused a request to combine 7,000 lawsuits into one single class action against Merck. Judge Fallon said that each of the lawsuits would needed to be filed separately as each case was unique, despite the fact that most victims had suffered either a heart attack or a stroke. This came as good news to Merck, who had, as of November 2006, won 7 out of 11 cases brought against them in Vioxx lawsuits.