Articles Posted in Products Liability

The next Vioxx trial in September 12 in New Jersey.

I watched some of the news coverage on the Vioxx verdict and have some more thoughts…. First, Merck lost $5B in market cap in a few hours. I am not sure the losses are over. It is clear that the jury did not believe Merck. The jurors I saw interviewed…

I believe that the next trial is in New Jersey next month (plaintiff had an MI; he survived) followed by a trial in federal court in New Orleans in November. The wonderful thing about this verdict for the rest of the cases is that before trial the plaintiff was not…

The Plaintiff won $229,000,000 in punitive damages in the Texas Vioxx trial. More later. This is a very preliminary report. The amount may be compensatory and punitive damages. In fact, I just heard that the total award is $253,400,000, subject to caps. Punitives are capped based on the computation of…

The Vioxx jury has asked to see the testimony of the pathologist. Read more here.

The jury in the Texas Vioxx case is hearing closing arguments today. I will let you know when I hear about the verdict. UPDATE: Here is an article giving a brief summary of the arguments.

The NYT has done a review of the testimony to date in the Texas Vioxx trial. The Times concludes that the plaintiff has the upper hand, which one would hope would be true since the defense has not put on its case yet but is still good news for the…

The Plaintiff closed her case yesterday in the Texas Vioxx trial, and Merck called its first witness, a researcher. One of Merck’s arguments is that the decedent was a smoker. His widow testified that he had not smoked in 15 years. I assume that Merck has at least one defense…

Do you have a potential case where you need to know something about a chemical substance? Look first to MSDS – Material Safety Data Sheets. These documents may be found here. MSDS have lots of information, including … Section 1 – Product and Company Identification Section 2 – Compositon/Information on…

Subject to several exceptions, Rule 407 prohibits the introduction into evidence of subsequent remedial measures. The Third Circuit Court of Appeals has just joined several other circuits in holding that the exclusionary rule does not apply when the remedial measures are made by a third party. Judge Smith wrote that…