Merck wants to settle some Vioxx cases

As news came out that approximately 5,000 lawsuits have been filed against Merck, and cases were exploding overseas too, particularly in the UK, the company realized its mistake in pusuing such an aggressive legal strategy. In a surprising announcement yesterday in an interview with the New York Times, the company is now ready to settle the lawsuits with at least the worst affected Vioxx victims (the ones most likely to win the lawsuit).

But where does it leave all those Vioxx users overseas? They might actually turn out to be the losers in this scenario, at least if history can provide any indication. The Dow Corning example shows that European victims received lower compensation amount than American women because the company simply did not have enough resources to pay them after a hefty settlement in the US.

What that means is that Vioxx users will need to be more aggressive in making their case to the company and to the US courts if they want to be treated like American victims. It is expected that there will be more than 100,000 plaintiffs in the US alone. While Merck has deep pockets it will resist giving every extra dollar to a plaintiff.

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