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Friday, November 9, 2007
Merck To Settle Vioxx Litigation for $4.85 Billion
The hot news this morning is that Merck has agreed to a Vioxx settlement. The total cost of the settlement for Merck is $4.85 Billion.
Although all the details of the deal are not yet known, the terms apparently require that at least 85% of the plaintiffs must agree to the deal or it won't happen.
The deal also establishes some kind of matrix by which each claim will be judged - although the specifics of the matrix have not yet been reported. Presumably the factors that will determine the value of each claim include the length of time that the victim had taken Vioxx as well as the severity of the injury (or death) and the impact on the victim's life. Presumably the details will become public in the very near future.
The question for plaintiffs and their lawyers is whether or not to accept this settlement. I am sure that some attorneys will still want to try their most dramatic cases, but victims who have waited so long may be tempted to take the money and run.
Merck on the other hand seems to have escaped what could have been an even bigger liability with over 40,000 plaintiffs already having filed suit, the defense attorneys' fees alone would have run into the billions of dollars if they had all been tried.
Many of our clients actively advertised for Vioxx and other mass tort claims and our clients have generated thousands of cases with our TV advertising. One of the advantages that we offer is that our clients were on TV advertising for Vioxx cases just days after the news broke giving them a huge advantage over their competition.
Harlan Schillinger
Although all the details of the deal are not yet known, the terms apparently require that at least 85% of the plaintiffs must agree to the deal or it won't happen.
The deal also establishes some kind of matrix by which each claim will be judged - although the specifics of the matrix have not yet been reported. Presumably the factors that will determine the value of each claim include the length of time that the victim had taken Vioxx as well as the severity of the injury (or death) and the impact on the victim's life. Presumably the details will become public in the very near future.
The question for plaintiffs and their lawyers is whether or not to accept this settlement. I am sure that some attorneys will still want to try their most dramatic cases, but victims who have waited so long may be tempted to take the money and run.
Merck on the other hand seems to have escaped what could have been an even bigger liability with over 40,000 plaintiffs already having filed suit, the defense attorneys' fees alone would have run into the billions of dollars if they had all been tried.
Many of our clients actively advertised for Vioxx and other mass tort claims and our clients have generated thousands of cases with our TV advertising. One of the advantages that we offer is that our clients were on TV advertising for Vioxx cases just days after the news broke giving them a huge advantage over their competition.
Harlan Schillinger
posted by
Dan Goldstein
at
3:46 PM
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