Judge Orders Non-Settling Vioxx Plaintiffs to Provide Evidence of Injury

NEW ORLEANS - A federal judge has ordered plaintiffs whose Vioxx claims have not yet been submitted to the national settlement program to provide certain causation evidence showing that they can proceed with their claims against Merck. In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1657 (E.D. La.).

Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana said in a May 30 order that the litigation is sufficiently mature to require plaintiffs to provide information pursuant to a Lone Pine order the court entered following global settlement of the Vioxx claims.

"It is not …