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*** NOT USED, MERGED INTO VIOXX LITIGATION DOCUMENTS **** This 2005 personal injury case, known as "The New Jersey Vioxx Case," was brought by Frederick “Mike” and Mary Humeston against Merck & Co. Humeston claimed that taking Vioxx for knee pain caused him to suffer a heart attack in 2001. During the original trial, Merck was cleared of any wrongdoing. The Atlantic City jury, relying on medical professional testimony, decided that Merck had provided enough warning to doctors and voted unanimously on three counts that Merck did not mislead doctors about the drug's safety.
A re-trial took place in 2007 in which New Jersey Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee vacated the November 2005 verdict on various grounds, including findings by the New England Journal of Medicine that Merck had failed to report material cardiovascular safety data in connection with the publication of its landmark 2000 Vioxx clinical study known as VIGOR. In March 2007, the jury returned a guilty verdict awarding a total of $20 million in compensatory damages to the Humestons.
