Texas Juror Took Loans From Plaintiff in Vioxx Case

A juror on the panel that found Merck & Co. liable for a fatal heart attack due to taking Vioxx, testified in a post-trial deposition to borrowing as much as $10,000 interest free from the plaintiff's widow.  Merck's attorneys want to look further into the extent of the financial relationship between the juror and the plaintiff in a case which ended in April.  In the case, the jury returned a $32 million verdict for a plaintiff who claimed only 17 days' use of Vioxx before suffering a heart attack and dying.  The plaintiff was a 20-year smoker with a history of heart disease.  See Lynn Brezosky's story for the Associated Press.

JDP