Merck & Co asks for cut of $47.5M Vioxx award
US drug major Merck & Co has urged a New Jersey judge to reduce the $47.5 million award made to an Idaho man who successfully sued the firm after suffering a heart attack that was attributed to his use of the now withdrawn painkiller Vioxx (rofecoxib), according to an Associated Press report.
Frederick Humeston of Boise, Idaho, was awarded $20.0 million in compensation and $21.5 million in punitive damages earlier this year (Marketletter March 19), as a result of his 2001 heart attack.
Merck's lawyer, Matt Shore, asked presiding judge Carol Higbee to reduce the award, which he said was more than 27 times above Idaho's $730,000 limit for compensatory damages. He also argued that the level of punitive damages had been "influenced by improper argument by Humeston's lawyers."
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