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Ranchers.net

Wonder who will be the first to sue the FDA for approving these drugs?

ANGLETON, Texas (AP) - A Texas jury found pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. (MRK) liable for the death of a man who took the once-popular painkiller Vioxx in the first of thousands of lawsuits pending across the country.

The case drew national attention from pharmaceutical companies, lawyers, consumers, stock analysts and arbitragers as a signal of what lies ahead for Merck, which has vowed to fight the more than 4,200 state and federal Vioxx-related lawsuits pending across the country. Merck said it plans to appeal.

A seven-man, five-woman jury from a semi-rural county south of Houston deliberated for 10 1/2 hours over two days before blaming the drug for killing Robert Ernst in his sleep in 2001. Jurors rejected Merck's argument that Ernst died of clogged arteries rather than a Vioxx-induced heart attack that led to his fatal arrhythmia.

Jurors awarded Ernst's widow, Carol, $253.4 million in damages, which is a combination of his lost pay as a Wal-Mart produce manager, mental anguish, loss of companionship and punitive damages, In Texas, punitive damages are capped at twice the amount of economic damages - lost pay - and up to $750,000 on top of non-economic damages, which are comprised of mental anguish and loss of companionship.

Non-economic damages have no limit in Texas except in medical malpractice cases, which doesn';t apply to the Ernst case.
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