Vioxx Class Action Claim Refused

A federal judge in New Orleans judge on Wednesday declined a class-action status for personal injury cases against the Merk's Voixx, a painkiller. This would mean that all the lawsuits which have been filed against the drug giant Merck cannot be pooled into a single national class action case. The ruling brought some relief to Merc which said it would rather fight the cases individually.

Merck had withdrawn the painkiller back in 2004 after confirmed reports of it increasing the risk of having a heart attack. It was in the market since 1999.

A class- action Lawsuit is filed by one or more people who have been wronged by the same defendant. For example the lawsuit may be filed against a company which is underpaying its employees in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act or maybe a defective product in the market, the latest example of which is the Voixx case. The lawsuits are filed in order to get monetary compensation for the damages sustained by the people.

The reason stated for the ruling to be in the company's favor is that every case is unique and should be treated individually and also ruled out the fact that the ruling should take place in the company's home state, New Jersey. The judge said that each hearing should take place in the each plaintiff's home state.

The ruling also helped Merck in the stock market. Its shares rose 15 cents to $44.37 in late trading on Wednesday in the New York Stock Exchange. The total lawsuits against the company are about 7,000 in number.

If the plea to allow the lawsuits to come under one class action had been approved, it would given the plaintiffs more leverage in the case and would have made it more difficult for Merck to settle the cases with the least monetary compensation possible. Some experts have speculated that Merck's liability over Vioxx will exceed $5 billion.

The ruling came exactly a week after a judge cleared Merck in the 2003 heart attack case suffered by a Utah bank manager who had been taking the painkiller for almost 11 months. This case was the 11th to be tried and the fourth in federal court. Merck won two previous federal cases and lost the third. The CEO of Merck said on 9th November that it could be several years before Merck considers settling the lawsuits brought by people.