Healthy Skepticism Library item: 12391

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Publication type: news

Goldstein J.
Merck’s Vioxx Settlement Could Hit ‘Land Mines’
The Wall Street Journal 2008 Jan 10
http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2008/01/10/mercks-vioxx-settlement-could-hit-land-mines/?mod=yahoo_hs

Full text:

The next few months will show how many plaintiffs sign on to Merck’s big Vioxx settlement.

While it’s likely that the deal will be endorsed by at least 85% of the heart attack and stroke victims suing the company over injuries associated with Vioxx (the minimum required for the settlement to stick), Merck could still wind up with significant liability exposure depending on the exact number of folks who reject the deal, the WSJ reports.

We should know more after Feb. 29, the deadline for enrollment by the estimated 45,000 plaintiffs with heart-attack and stroke cases that qualify for the settlement.

Some plaintiffs lawyers are fighting the settlement, which basically pushes lawyers who are representing multiple plaintiffs to take an all-or-nothing stance – if one client decides to sign on to the deal, the plaintiffs lawyer is supposed to encourage all clients to sign on, and stop representing those who refuse.

“The settlement’s so loaded with land mines in the attorney-client relationship,” Ann Oldfather, principal at the Oldfather Law Firm in Louisville, who is among the group of Kentucky lawyers with 200 cases who are challenging the provision, told the WSJ. “It’s designed to put the pressure on me to look at my pocketbook as the primary concern. It’s extremely offensive to those of us who care about doing our job.”