Editorial: $253.4 million

·  Giant Merck verdict

The Charleston Gazette, August 24, 2005

INCREDIBLY, jurors in Texas decided that one person’s life is worth $253.4 million, a quarter-billion dollars. That’s the sum Merck & Co. should pay to a produce manager’s widow, the jurors decreed, because the painkiller Vioxx allegedly contributed to his fatal heart illness at age 59.

This case illustrates the jackpot nature of America’s litigation system. Thousands of other heart deaths draw no compensation — yet one is worth $253 million, if a way can be found to attribute it to a corporation with “deep pockets.” Dead victims don’t get the money, but lawyers and relatives do.

Fortunately, tort reform laws in Texas will reduce the Vioxx verdict to $26 million, because they cap punitive damages. But the astounding award will echo across America in many states without such caps. Already, 4,200 Vioxx lawsuits have been filed, and the number now may multiply rapidly.

“Plaintiff lawyers are sharks, and they smell blood,” David Logan, dean of the Roger Williams University law school, told reporters. He was proven correct by plaintiff lawyer Mark Lanier, who said: “My message to Merck is that I’m just warming up.”

Families of people injured by gross negligence deserve compensation. But common sense should apply. Merck followed government testing requirements and performed clinical trials with nearly 10,000 patients — then withdrew Vioxx when heart problems began appearing. That doesn’t sound like willful negligence.

Vioxx never was linked to arrhythmia, the disease that killed the Texas produce manager, yet jurors brushed aside this fact. The colossal verdict probably will force Merck to offer million-dollar payments in all pending suits, and in the flood likely to follow, even though the firm feels it did nothing wrong.

At the West Virginia Business Summit next week, speakers are to discuss the billion-dollar burden imposed on businesses by the constant threat of gigantic lawsuits. America needs a fairer way to compensate negligence victims and their families, instead of hit-or-miss jackpot justice.