Judge Rules Out Vioxx "Super" Class Action: "

Judge Rules Out Vioxx 'Super' Class Action







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November 24, 2006
Vioxx, et al


There will be no single class action lawsuit against Merck's Vioxx, a federal judge has ruled. But U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon left open the possibility that thousands of individual lawsuits against the pharmaceutical giant may be lumped into a series of class actions.
Merck is likely to view the ruling as a victory."

This is not surprisng and i do not believe that any plaintiff lawyers actually thought this would prevail given the current claimate for personal injury class actions.

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Ford loses appeal of $82.6 million Explorer rollover judgment - Los Angeles Times: "Ford loses appeal of $82.6 million Explorer rollover judgment
From Bloomberg News
November 2, 2006


Ford Motor Co. lost a bid Wednesday to overturn an $82.6-million judgment over an Explorer sport utility vehicle accident that left a woman paralyzed.

The California Supreme Court refused to review an appeals court's decision to uphold a jury's ruling that Ford was responsible for the woman's injuries. Ford plans to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

A San Diego jury in June 2004 awarded Benetta Buell-Wilson and her husband $369 million, including $246 million in punitive damages. An appeals court reduced the judgment to $82.6 million in July. "

BillingsGazette.com :: Company to pay farmers $62 million: "Company to pay farmers $62 million
By The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS - BASF Corp. will pay a $62 million judgment this week, finally resolving a class action lawsuit that accused the chemical company of defrauding farmers through its marketing of herbicides, a company spokesman said Monday.

Farmers who bought Poast herbicide from 1992 to 1996 are eligible to share in the judgment. Douglas Nill, an attorney for the plaintiffs, estimated that several thousand farmers are eligible, and said he hopes the money can be distributed to them within the next six months.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider Florham Park, N.J.-based BASF Corp.'s appeal of a decision in March by the Minnesota Supreme Court. The effect was to reaffirm the judgment handed up by a Norman County jury in 2001, thus ending a long legal battle that included several appeals.

BASF will pay the $62 million into an account set up by the plaintiffs' lawyers by Friday, BASF spokesman Mark Stephenson said. Because the company already made provisions in its books, Monday's rulings will not affect BASF's earnings for the quarter, he said. "

BP pact calls for $32 million for colleges, hospitals Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "Daughter settles with BP in parents' death
Just days before trial, she accepts private sum, plus $32 million for hospitals, schools

By BRAD HEM
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
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More on BP
BP settles with fired refinery workers
BP settles lawsuit in deadly 2005 blast GALVESTON — The daughter of two people killed in the 2005 explosion at BP's Texas City refinery settled her case against the company Thursday, and as part of the settlement, BP agreed to donate more than $32 million to hospitals and schools.
The lawsuit would have been the first related to the blast to go to trial.
With this agreement, London-based BP has settled with the families of all 15 killed in the March 23, 2005, explosion. Injury suits still remain, with some scheduled for trial in February.
Lawyers for Eva Rowe and BP worked out the settlement on the same day they were scheduled to pick a jury for the trial that would have started Monday.
The financial terms for Rowe, 22, were kept private Thursday, but some previous settlements for deaths at Texas City reportedly have been in the tens of millions of dollars.
Rowe, who is from Hornbeck, La., vowed to use some of her settlement money to crusade for workplace safety nationwide.
'I know that would make my parents proud,' she said. 'I'm going to do everything that I can.'
Under the settlement, BP will donate at least $32 million to various colleges and hospitals in Texas, Tennessee and Louisiana.
'Eva Rowe today is making peace with BP,' her Beaumont attorney Brent Coon said. 'Eva did not want her parents to die in vain. They were su"

Law.com - Federal Jury Clears Merck in Latest Vioxx Trial: "Federal Jury Clears Merck in Latest Vioxx Trial
Janet McConnaughey
The Associated Press
November 16, 2006
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Image: Getty ImagesA federal jury in New Orleans has cleared Merck & Co. in the July 2003 heart attack suffered by a Utah bank credit manager who had taken the once-popular painkiller Vioxx for 10 1/2 months.
Charles Laron 'Ron' Mason, 64, of Salt Lake County, Utah, began taking Vioxx after years of taking anti-inflammatory drugs because of back pain.
The case was the 11th to be tried and the fourth in federal court.
Merck won two previous federal cases and lost the third. In state court, it has won three, and lost three. Jurors decided a fourth in Merck's favor, but the judge later ordered a retrial.
Mason had no comment after the verdict was announced. 'We thought we had proved the case. Obviously the jury didn't agree,' said his lawyer, Ed Blizzard, who added that no decision had been made on whether to appeal.
'This is a satisfying verdict for Merck,' Kenneth C. Frazier, executive vice president and general counsel of Merck, said in a prepared statement.
Philip Beck, a Merck lawyer, noted that the plaintiffs' steering committee had chosen Mason's case as one they wanted to try early.
'It's gratifying that we were able to defend against a case that the plaintiffs considered one of their strongest and against top-flight lawyers,' Beck said.
Merck attorneys, in closing arguments Wednesday, said Vioxx had nothing to do with Mason's heart attack because he took the once-popular painkiller for less than a year and stopped taking it four days before the heart attack in July 2003.
Blizzard countered that the drug's effects"

chris's commnet: i think this came down to the jury losing conficence in the plaintiff's theory of the case after he got the prescription wrong. a 4 day gap with a heart attack is clearly supported by the science.