Canada Judge Considers Vioxx Class Action

A judge in Saskatchewan ruled that a Vioxx class action has sufficient merit to move forward, but needs more information on manageability before deciding whether to certify the class.  Here’s Friday’s CP article as reported on canada.com — Sask judge says case against Vioxx maker has merit, but wants more details:

An attempt to certify a class-action lawsuit against makers of the drug Vioxx has pushed forward in Saskatchewan.

Regina lawyer Tony Merchant says Court of Queen’s Bench has ruled that a case against Merck Frosst has merit on the issues of negligence, deceit, battery and breaches of consumer protection legislation. …

Merchant says the suit has not yet been certified as a class action because the judge wants a plan from the plaintiffs on how the case would be pursued.

But he calls the judge’s comments important because an attempt to build a national class action in the United States failed.

Merck argues that people who claim they suffered injury from taking Vioxx must pursue individual lawsuits.

HME