Riverboat Poker and Paradoxes
The Vioxx Mass Tort Settlement
Ted Frank | Washington Legal Foundation
March 21, 2008

  • Download
Resident Fellow Ted Frank
Resident Fellow
Ted Frank

Poker players learn to read the cards of the other players at the table by their actions. Betting patterns and other "tells" can permit a good poker player to understand the strength of his opponents' cards without ever seeing them. There have been only a handful of Vioxx trials, but the announced settlement of the Vioxx litigation provides strong tells as to the weakness of the plaintiffs' claims--and of the weaknesses of current pharmaceutical product liability law.

On November 9, 2007, in New Orleans, Merck agreed to the framework of a settlement of approximately 47,000 pending or tolled claims of personal injuries alleged to have been caused by Vioxx, which was withdrawn from the market in 2004 in the wake of studies showing increased cardiovascular risk for use of the painkiller. Subject to a walk-away right if certain thresholds for opt-ins are not met, Merck agreed to have a fixed $4.85 billion divvied up among plaintiffs. . . .

Download file Click here to view the entire document as an Adobe Acrobat PDF.

Ted Frank is a resident fellow at AEI and director of the Legal Center for the Public Interest.

  • Download
Also Visit
AEIdeas Blog The American Magazine
About the Author

 

Ted
Frank
  • Ted Frank is a former resident fellow at AEI. He specialized in product liability, class actions, and civil procedure while at AEI. Before joining AEI, Mr. Frank was a litigator from 1995 to 2005 and clerked for the Honorable Frank H. Easterbrook on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Frank has written for law reviews, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and The American Spectator and has testified before Congress multiple times on legal issues. He writes for the award-winning legal blogs PointOfLaw.com and Overlawyered, and the Wall Street Journal has called him a "leading tort-reform advocate."  Mr. Frank was recently elected to membership in the American Law Institute.
Show More

What's new on AEI

image How to stop Assad's slaughter
image FHA Watch, May 2013 (Vol. 2, No. 5)
image Apple becomes latest target of the Beltway shakedown
image Lack of adult supervision in the Obama administration
close

Join the AEI Media List

AEI's press office frequently sends press advisories highlighting the availability of scholars to discuss particular news topics, as well as recent AEI products (such as studies, articles, and testimonies). Please enter your contact information below to be added to our media list.
JOIN MEDIA LIST
AEI on Facebook
Events Calendar
  • 20
    MON
  • 21
    TUE
  • 22
    WED
  • 23
    THU
  • 24
    FRI
Tuesday, May 21, 2013 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Free beer: Liberating libations from ‘Bootleggers and Baptists’

Join us for a discussion of the history and future of federal and state alcohol regulation and competition, followed by a reception with beer, wine, and spirits.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 | 5:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m.
NCLB sanctions: Tests taken, lessons learned

Join education scholars and practitioners for a discussion about the latest NCLB research and its implications for future education policy.

Thursday, May 23, 2013 | 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Competing visions of the common good: Rethinking help for the poor

What shared commitments do we have as citizens and neighbors to care for one another? How can a proper ordering of America’s political economy enable the most people to have the best life? At this event, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), a longtime champion of human rights causes, and AEI President Arthur Brooks will join Wallis in addressing these and other questions.

Event Registration is Closed
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled today.
No events scheduled this day.
No events scheduled this day.