Posted on 08/19/2005 12:04:06 PM PDT by HAL9000
ANGLETON, Texas (AP) -- A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx in the first of thousands of lawsuits pending across the country.The case drew national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers, stock analysts and arbitragers as a signal of what lies ahead for Merck, which has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country. Merck said it plans to appeal.
A seven-man, five-woman jury from a semi-rural county south of Houston deliberated for 10 1/2 hours over two days before blaming the drug for killing Robert Ernst in his sleep in 2001. Jurors rejected Merck's argument that Ernst died of clogged arteries rather than a Vioxx-induced heart attack that led to his fatal arrhythmia.
Jurors awarded Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages, In Texas, punitive damages are capped at twice the amount of economic damages -- lost pay -- and up to $750,000 on top of non-economic damages, which are comprised of mental anguish and loss of companionship.
Non-economic damages have no limit in Texas except in medical malpractice cases, which doesn't apply to the Ernst case.
Texans, hang your head in shame for 12 of your fellow citizens.
Why not $253GAZILLION!
I wouldn't advise the widow to go out and buy any small countries yet.
Boy, that's better than playing the lottery.
Loot! Loot! Loot! Wa-hoo!!!
Lawyers are the commissars of American-style socialism.
This is why drug prices are so high..it cost much to develop them, 9/10 trials fail. and if you do make a sucessful drug you can get sued for 253 million a person...why in the hell will a company even take a chance and bother to develop drugs..bye bye cure for AIDS, cancer, etc
Who's REALLY liable?
Was this drug put on the FDA's "Fast track" program?
LOL
That'll teach them to try to help people with arthritis!
Let's see: he must have made ten million dollars a year, he was probably worth another ten million in "companionship" yearly, and got 50 million because he died in great "anguish" while asleep. And all from taking an anti-inflamitory/arthritis painkiller that he probably wouldn't have given up for a million in cold hard cash.
Oh, yeah, that adds up. Did Edwards channel the old guy for the jury or what? And just what kind of morons did they have on this jury?
No way this stands up on appeal. My mother's doc has called the charges against Vioxx "garbage" and continues to prescribe it.
Yep and we'll have them to thank when we no longer have life-saving, pain reducing meds etc.
They have the sheeple convinced that everything should be perfect, no risk to anything etc. Maybe they'll be happy when people are dying before their time and/or leading lives of misery and pain before that.
Here's a warning label for them: Some of those people living in misery and dying before their time will even be members of the free lunch crowd and their attorneys.
I'd like to see a detailed breakdown of this. But I know that will never happen. Cause at least 1/3 will go to the lawyers.
"Lawyers are the commissars of American-style socialism."
Lawyers didn't do this.
Twelve citizens of Texas did this.
Why do Americans allow such disputes to be judged by juries instead of panels of experts?
They will find a judge to throw out that ruling. Hope the jury enjoyed their short lived fun.
Merck stock is plummetting to its death as we speak....
Down $1.35 or 4.4% - wouldn't call that plummeting.
And bye bye Merck, just like Johns Mansfield due to phony asbestos suits, Dow-Owens Corning due to breast implant suits, etc. Lawyers, and stupid juries, do as much harm to America than their running mates the Democrats, labor unions, and other Communists organizations.
No wonder every productive business is fleeing the U.S.
We are doing this to ourselves. Too many people are letting too many lawyers siphon too many dollars out of our economy for too few good reasons.
Boy, you guys have no faith in the jury system. Maybe Merck was negligent and that's the reason for the award?
Because our judicial system is an adversarial debating contest between lawyers rather than a sytem for discovering the truth. As you suggest, that needs changing.
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