AP is reporting that the first Vioxx lawsuits could be coming this autumn:
NEW ORLEANS – The first federal lawsuits against drug maker Merck & Co. over its withdrawn painkiller Vioxx could reach trial in the late fall, according to lawyers who gathered Thursday for a monthly status conference on the massive litigation.
More than 3,500 individual suits had been filed against Merck as of June 15 in state and federal courts nationwide.
Vioxx was taken from the market last September after a study showed it doubled patients’ risk of heart attacks and strokes. The wrongful death and injury lawsuits against the company contend it hid Vioxx’s risks. Analysts say the company’s liability could be as high as $18 billion.
The first state trial begins next month in Angleton, Texas. Two other state cases are due to be heard in Texas in September, and a fourth is scheduled for New Jersey.
The federal action is in New Orleans because U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon has been assigned the task of initially presiding over all the pretrial motions in the cases. Once that is done the cases may go back to their original districts or could be tried in New Orleans.
The first few federal cases will be tried here, and will be ones that were filed In New Orleans. Lawyers said the “discovery” process, the task of gathering and sifting evidence, is being orchestrated.
Lawyers said the goal for both sides, as well as for Fallon, is to choose initial cases that will aid courts in subsequent proceedings — cases in which broader Vioxx issues arise.