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Jury deadlock in California Vioxx case leads to mistrial
Breaking Legal News |
2007/01/20 09:45
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| A jury in California could not reach a decision on the third of a series of questions on a verdict form in the consolidated cases of two men who blamed their heart attacks on the painkiller Vioxx, leading Judge Victoria Chaney of the Superior Court of California for Los Angeles County to declare a mistrial Thursday. The jury could not determine whether the plaintiffs' physicians would have recognized possible risks and side-effects of the drug. The lawsuits, brought by Arizona resident Lawrence Appell of Arizona and California resident Rudolph Arrigale, claimed that Vioxx was a significant cause of the men's heart problems. Vioxx manufacturer Merck Pharmaceuticals, which withdrew the drug from the market in 2004 after research showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and strokes, claimed that the men's heart problems were caused by pre-existing coronary heart disease, and not the drug. After the mistrial was declared, Merck announced that the plaintiffs did not prove their cases, and that they were ready to defend against the allegations if they were brought fourth again. As of the end of last November, Merck faced 27,200 lawsuits over Vioxx and another 265 potential state-based class-action lawsuits. A federal judge rejected national class-action lawsuits in federal court early in November. |
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Class action or a representative action is a form of lawsuit in which a large group of people collectively bring a claim to court and/or in which a class of defendants is being sued. This form of collective lawsuit originated in the United States and is still predominantly a U.S. phenomenon, at least the U.S. variant of it. In the United States federal courts, class actions are governed by Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule. Since 1938, many states have adopted rules similar to the FRCP. However, some states like California have civil procedure systems which deviate significantly from the federal rules; the California Codes provide for four separate types of class actions. As a result, there are two separate treatises devoted solely to the complex topic of California class actions. Some states, such as Virginia, do not provide for any class actions, while others, such as New York, limit the types of claims that may be brought as class actions. They can construct your law firm a brand new website, lawyer website templates and help you redesign your existing law firm site to secure your place in the internet. |
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