Vioxx Lawyer Victory Encourages Orlando Injury Lawyers
As Orlando injury lawyers handling pharmaceutical drug cases, the recent Vioxx victory encourages plaintiff lawyers to continue the fight against giant drug maker Merck & Co. A jury in Atlantic City ruled that the painkiller Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s heart attack and handed Merck one of its biggest losses over the drug Vioxx so far. The jurors awarded Frederick Humeston and his wife $20 million in compensatory damages Monday morning, then later said Merck should pay $27.5 million in punitive damages.
Mr. Humeston had been granted a second trial in light of new evidence and this Vioxx victory means Merck has now won nine cases and lost five in the Vioxx litigation over its arthritis pill.
Humeston, 61, of Boise, Idaho, suffered a heart attack in September 2001, several months before Merck - under pressure from federal regulators - put a stronger warning about the cardiovascular risks of Vioxx on the drug's detailed package insert. A decorated Vietnam veteran, Humeston, had taken Vioxx intermittently for knee pain from shrapnel wound.
The jurors, after deliberating for about five hours over two days, awarded Mr. Humeston $18 million and $2 million to his wife in compensatory damages. The jury also deliberated over Vioxx and Merck’s reprehensible conduct and awarded $27.5 million in punitive damages against the Vioxx maker.
Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after its own research showed the drug doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke. Nonetheless, during the eight-week trial, Merck lawyers contended Humeston had several risk factors for heart disease, including being overweight and sedentary and having high blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Fortunately, these excuses did not work and the jury kept its focus on Vioxx and the dangers of this dangerous product.
As injury lawyers often fighting against the odds, we admire the perseverance of Humeston and his counsel who lost their first trial against the pharmaceutical giant, Merck. Undaunted, they sought a second trial when evidence surfaced that short-term Vioxx use could also be risky. Merck claimed that Vioxx did not increase cardiac risks until after 18 months of use, however, doctors have found contradictory Vioxx research that show that taking the drug for just two months, like Humeston, is dangerous.
