Following the $253 million jury award in Ernst v. Merck, thousands of people have filed new lawsuits against the drug maker over its painkiller Vioxx. Court documents show that 1,500 new suits have been filed against the company in the eight weeks since the case ended. That brings the total number of suits filed against the company over its maligned Cox-2 inhibitor to 6,500. The award in the Texas case was capped under state laws limiting punitive damages, reducing it dramatically, but that hasn't stopped the verdict from inspiring the follow-on suits. The attorney representing the plaintiff in the Atlantic City Vioxx trial said he expects as many as 10,000 to 15,000 additional suits to be filed in New Jersey by the end of the year.
- see this article from the Boston Globe