New Jersey Judge Issues Orders on Discovery Items, Economic Damage Claims

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Two orders regarding economic damage claims and various discovery items were entered recently in the New Jersey court where hundreds of Vioxx-related cases have been filed. In Re: VIOXX® Litigation, Case Code 619 (N.J. Superior Ct., Atlantic Cty.).

Judge Carol E. Higbee of the Atlantic County Superior Court filed the orders in late March, first designating the law firm of Spector, Roseman & Kodroff as lead counsel for all individual consumers seeking only economic damages in the coordinated proceedings.

Since Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market on Sept. 30, 2004, numerous complaints - many of them …