The Lanier Law Firm Announces $4.85 Billion National Vioxx Settlement With Merck & Co. Inc.

Mark Lanier, winner of nation’s first Vioxx trial, hails settlement as ‘the right thing to do’

Attorneys from The Lanier Law Firm are
announcing a nationwide settlement agreement with pharmaceutical giant
Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) that should resolve at least 85% of the
personal injury lawsuits in the U.S. over Vioxx, the company’s
controversial pain medication.

“This was simply the right thing to do, and we’re grateful that the
people at Merck recognized that it was the right thing to do,” says Houston
attorney Mark Lanier, founder of The Lanier Law Firm and lead counsel in
the nation’s first Vioxx trial. “A lot of lawyers worked hard to get this
settlement, which will help thousands of our clients and every other
injured Vioxx patient in the United States.”
    Mr. Lanier has been a national leader in Vioxx litigation since winning
a $253 million verdict in the country’s first Vioxx lawsuit in August 2005.
That case — decided in favor of the wife of a former marathon runner who
died after taking Vioxx for only eight months — stands as the largest
Vioxx verdict in history.
    Today’s settlement with Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck marks the
end of a series of legal battles that began after the company withdrew
Vioxx from store shelves in September 2004. Vioxx was pulled from the
market after a study revealed that users of the drug were more susceptible
to heart attacks and strokes than people using other pain medications.