MONTGOMERY, Ala., April 25 – LAWFUEL – The Law News Network – A motion
(http://www.beasleyallen.com/pdf/Motion%20for%20Sanctions%20Against%20Merck.pdf) was filed today for sanctions against Merck for violating a protective order and disclosing personal and confidential information to the news media related to
Cheryl Rogers and her deceased husband, Howard. Mrs. Rogers is the plaintiff
in the first Vioxx lawsuit scheduled to go to trial on May 23.
According to attorney Jere Beasley, whose firm Beasley, Allen, Crow,
Methvin, Portis & Miles ( http://www.beasleyallen.com ) in Montgomery,
Alabama, represents Ms. Rogers: “Merck provided depositions of Mrs. Rogers
and Dr. William Clancy, who treated her husband, to local and national press
on April 12, in violation of the court’s protective order. In fact, one
reporter had the documents on this date apparently before it was even filed in
court.”
In addition, the motion cites Merck being in violation of the provisions
of HIPAA by disclosing personal medical information pertaining to Howard Brad
Rogers.
That day, Merck had filed a motion to dismiss the Rogers case in the
Circuit Court of Clay County in Ashland, Alabama, and at the same time sought
to discredit Mrs. Rogers by circulating proprietary information concerning the
case.
Mr. Beasley’s motion on behalf of Mrs. Rogers requests that the court
vacate its protective order as it relates to documents produced by Merck. He
is asking the court to allow for public disclosure by plaintiffs’ attorneys of
all Merck documents.
During the Advantage trial (completed in 2000), eight people taking Vioxx
suffered heart attacks or sudden cardiac death, compared with just one taking
naproxen, according to data released by the F.D.A. earlier this year. The
difference was statistically significant, but Merck never disclosed the data
that way. In fact, according to previously undisclosed Merck records,
including email messages between top Merck officials, it appears that Merck
went out of its way to hide these facts. In 2000, amid rising concerns that
its painkiller Vioxx posed heart risks, Merck overruled one of its own
scientists after he suggested that a patient in a clinical trial had probably
died of a heart attack. “Merck intentionally misled the public and the medical
community by withholding information relating to known dangers associated with
taking Vioxx,” Beasley says.
“Releasing Merck’s documents would serve the public interest by exposing
its wrongful conduct over the years,” Beasley adds. “Clinical tests have
proven Vioxx is and was a dangerous drug. It has killed literally thousands of
unsuspecting victims who trusted the company and who had no idea that Vioxx
caused heart attacks and strokes.”
Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. has been in the
forefront of the effort to have all of the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitors
(Bextra, Celebrex and Vioxx) taken off the market since the law firm took on
its first case against Merck more than four years ago. Beasley Allen is
spearheading the review of over 31,000 claims against the manufacturers of
Bextra, Celebrex, and Vioxx, having filed 161 cases to date.
The case number is CV-2003-73 in the Circuit Court of Clay County,
Alabama.
Contact:
Jere Beasley
Beasley Allen
800-898-2034 / 334-451-0814
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Web Site: http://www.beasleyallen.com
