In New Orleans, Louisiana, Merck and Co. is defending its second federal trial involving the controversial pain killer Vioxx. The Plaintiff in this case is a retired FBI agent, Gerald Burns, who took Vioxx for approximately 32 months prior to his heart attack in August of 2002. The trial, which began on Monday, is scheduled to last only two weeks in front of the presiding Judge Eldon E. Fallon of the U.S. District Court.
According to Nola.com:
This time, a retired FBI agent, Gerald Barnett, is pushing the case, saying in his lawsuit that Merck hid information about the drug. Potential jurors were summoned for Monday’s opening of this, the second federal trial on subject matter that has resulted in more than 16,000 suits so far in various state and federal courts.
