Jurors side with Merck in Illinois Vioxx trial

But Merck attorney Ball accused the Schwaller family’s attorney of cherry-picking and misrepresenting Merck e-mails to “assault” the reputation of a company he said was dedicated to making lives better.

Ball said Vioxx labels in 1999 and 2002 — well before Patty Schwaller’s death — urged caution among users with cardiovascular risks including hypertension. He urged jurors to look to Schwaller’s health troubles in deciding what caused her death.

“A person with these kinds of issues sometimes can die early, tragically, and medicine doesn’t have a doggone thing to do with it,” Ball told jurors. “Let’s try not to forget the undisputed fact that most people who took this medicine had no issues at all.”

The trial has been closely watched in Madison County, which has gained national notoriety as a place where lawyers from across the country file cases involving everything from asbestos exposure to medical malpractice, hoping for big payouts.

Merck has been deluged with more than 27,000 personal injury lawsuits and another 265 potential class-action lawsuits alleging harm from Vioxx. The company has reserved $1.64 billion in its Vioxx legal defense fund, saying it plans to fight each lawsuit.

On March 12, jurors in Atlantic City, N.J., found that Vioxx contributed to an Idaho postal worker’s 2001 heart attack, reversing the verdict in the man’s first trial and hitting Merck with a total of $47.5 million in damages.

If the verdict and damage amounts are upheld on appeal, it could be the biggest hit to Merck so far.

In the only Vioxx case with a larger verdict — $51 million awarded last August to Gerald Barnett of Myrtle Beach, S.C. — U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in New Orleans ordered a new trial on damage award, calling the total “grossly excessive.”

A New Jersey Supreme Court panel also is considering whether to allow health insurers and union health plans to sue Merck jointly to recover money they paid for Vioxx prescriptions — a lawsuit potentially worth more than $15 billion. A New Jersey state judge granted that lawsuit class-action status in mid-2005, and a state appellate court ruled last year that the nationwide suit could go forward. Merck is appealing.

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