Vioxx Plaintiff Gets $9M; Merck to Appeal

[Celebration]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060411/ap_on_bi_ge/vioxx_trial;_ylt=Ats3uR9lJLPVrN31JfPp.PnVJRIF;_ylu=X3oDMTA5aHJvMDdwBHNlYwN5bmNhdA--

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - A jury awarded $9 million in punitive damages Tuesday to a man who blamed his heart attack on Vioxx, finding that manufacturer Merck & Co. knowingly withheld information about the risks of its arthritis drug from federal regulators.

Saying Merck's conduct showed a "wanton and willful disregard of another's rights," the state court jury added to the $4.5 million it had awarded last week to John McDarby, 77, of Park Ridge, and his wife, Irma.

Last Wednesday, the same panel found that Merck failed to warn of the drug's risks and committed consumer fraud in misrepresenting them to prescribing physicians.

"This is a victory for all of the John and Irma McDarbys of the world, people who are taking medications every single day, who now have at least a chance of making sure that the companies that are making those medications are going to do the right thing," said Jerry Kristal, one of McDarby's lawyers.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Yeah, yeah, yeah

Like those huge tobacco verdicts.

Ever check to see how many of them ever sustained an appeal or were paid out?

Juries pull this crap all the time, and it's meaningless.

Simultaneously, another jury found Merck not liable in an almost identical case. I think it was last week.

Meaningless.

:shrug:

[saigon68]

3. Have to agree the Trial Judge will issue a remittur

Or the court of appeals will use the same principle to reduce the verdict to well under 7 figures, and knock out the punitives.

None of these jury verdicts have precedence on any other case.

[bluestateguy]

2. They shouldn't even be allowed to appeal

Yeah, I'm not a whore for corporations.