Thousands of federal lawsuits claiming the drug Vioxx killed or injured people by causing heart attacks cannot be pooled into one national class action, a judge ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, who was appointed to deal with pretrial matters for all federal suits involving Merck & Co.’s painkiller, did not rule on the possibility of separate class-actions suits for each state and the District of Columbia.
He rejected the plaintiffs’ proposal to try all of the cases under the laws in New Jersey, where Merck is headquartered.
It makes more sense to apply the law of each plaintiff’s home state to that plaintiff’s claims, Fallon ruled.