Merck: Plaintiffs' Unique Factual Issues Preclude Statewide Injury Classes

NEW ORLEANS - While acknowledging that there remains a set of personal injury Vioxx cases in certain circuits that might be certified as class actions, Merck & Co. Inc. maintains that the need for individualized factual determinations of plaintiffs' claims precludes certification of statewide classes. In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1657 (E.D. La.).

In an April 2 surreply brief filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Merck specifically asserts that the law of the 5th Circuit does not provide for certification in product liability cases in which individual plaintiffs were exposed to …