Vioxx Settlement's Next Big Question: How To Split It Up?

Nov 29 2007

"Wall Street largely hailed the $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement deal Merck & Co. announced Friday as closing an ugly and costly chapter for the company. But plaintiffs lawyers reviewing the news questioned whether the deal would yield adequate payouts for some of their clients. Beth Klein, a Denver plaintiffs lawyer who filed four Vioxx suits in New Jersey state court, said that while the settlement provides a welcome opportunity to avoid litigation, she would need a lot more information before she could recommend it. 'People are going to want to know the lowest amount they could get, the worst-case scenario, before they agree to that settlement,' she said. That includes figuring out the cut that will go to health insurers and exactly how much her clients could get docked for having risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Right now, she said, 'I don’t have a handle on what the payout will be.'"

Amir Efrati, Nathan Koppel, and Jamie Heller, Wall Street Journal, 11-12-2007
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119483151548589655.html

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