Order Disputes Statements Made in Appeals Court's Disqualification of Vioxx Judge

LOS ANGELES - The Court of Appeal decision that removed Judge Peter D. Lichtman from the state's consolidated Vioxx docket included several false statements about the judge's alleged failure to disclose that he had once taken the drug, according to an order entered recently by the court where the now-disqualified judge sits. In Re: VIOXX Cases, JCCP No. 4247 (Calif. Super. Ct., Los Angeles Cty.).

The order, signed May 3 by Los Angeles Superior Court's deputy clerk, takes specific issue with several statements made in the Second Appellate District's April 15 decision indicating that Judge Lichtman continued to take the …