PSC Seeks Order Compelling Case-Specific Discovery in MDL Cases

NEW ORLEANS - The Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for the federal Vioxx MDL has moved for an order directing that case-specific discovery commence in several hundred cases, saying the process will expedite the MDL's inevitable dissolution. In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1657 (E.D. La.).

The PSC stated on May 29 that such an order is necessary because after 28 months of coordinated pretrial proceedings and the use of bellwether trials designed to facilitate settlement by obtaining representative and instructive jury verdicts, Merck & Co. Inc. continues to insist that it will try each and every Vioxx case.

As …