Vioxx MDL Special Master Issues Findings on Merck's Privilege Claims

NEW ORLEANS - A special master appointed by the federal Vioxx MDL to review thousands of documents over which Merck & Co. Inc. asserted privilege has issued his report and recommended that the company continue to withhold approximately 70 percent of the documents it identified as representative. In Re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1657 (E.D. La.).

Professor Paul Rice of the Washington College of Law at American University also said in his July 3 report, however, that only about 40 percent of 600 additional documents selected by the Plaintiffs' Steering Committee for review met the standard for legal …