Thursday, August 31, 2006
Texas Juror Took Loans From Plaintiff in Vioxx Case
Article today on law.com -- Texas Juror Took Loans From Plaintiff in Vioxx Case, by Lynn Brezosky:
Attorneys for Merck & Co. want to see bank and cell phone
records that could
show the extent of a juror's financial relationship
with a plaintiff who won a
$32 million verdict against the drug company
in the death of a 71-year-old man
who took Vioxx.
Jose Manuel Rios, a $22,000-a-year school janitor who served
on the panel that
found Merck liable for Leonel Garza's fatal heart
attack after taking the painkiller
Vioxx, testified in a post-trial
deposition to borrowing up to $10,000 interest free
from Garza's widow,
Felicia, the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Merck. He said the
loans
included $2,500 that was paid off just weeks before he was selected as
a juror
in the case.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/mass_tort_litigation/2006/09/texas_juror_too.html