Texas court overturns $26 million Vioxx verdict

HOUSTON The 14th Texas Court of Appeals has overturned a $26 million verdict in favor of the widow of a 59-year-old man who died due to the use of Merck’s painkiller Vioxx, according to published reports.

The appeals court said that there was insufficient evidence in the first case used to prove the drug caused the man’s heart problem and death. Houston appellate court Chief Justice Adele Hedges wrote for a three-judge panel that studies support the conclusion that “Vioxx use at a certain dose and duration is associated with risk of thrombotic cardiac event.” But, she wrote, the expert evidence in the Bob Ernst trial was nothing more than conjecture that an undiscovered blood clot caused the man’s death after he took the drug for less than nine months.

This was the first Vioxx case that went to trial and originally the court awarded the widow, Carol Ernst, $253 million, but because of Texas law, the court reduced it to $26.1 million. Ernst plans to appeal the case and her lawyer said he would take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if needed.

This case is separate from the $4.8 billion settlement that Merck is currently involved in with thousands of plaintiffs over Vioxx.