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UPDATE: Details on how to file a claim for the Vioxx Class Action Settlement are now available!
UPDATE 2: Viewers are reporting that they began receiving checks from the Vioxx class action settlement on March 16, 2015. Did YOU get paid? Let us know in the comments section below!
After more than eight years of hard-fought litigation regarding the prescription pain reliever Vioxx – which was withdrawn from the market in 2004 for causing heart attacks – Merck & Co. Inc. has finally agreed to a class action lawsuit settlement to resolve the litigation.
In a motion filed July 17, Merck urged the court to preliminarily approve a $23 million class action settlement to reimburse consumers who purchased Vioxx for personal or family use. Under the terms of the proposed Vioxx settlement, consumers can choose to recover one of two things:
- Out-of-pocket expenses paid for the purchase of Vioxx and up to $75 for their out-of-pocket costs and losses in connection with a post-withdrawal medical consultation related to Vioxx, or
- A one-time payment of up to $50 with proof of a Vioxx prescription.
The proposed Vioxx class action settlement will cover all U.S. consumers nationwide, except for those who purchased the prescription painkiller before October 1, 2004, while living in Missouri. These Missouri consumers were already awarded a class action settlement, which has an October 7 Claim Form deadline. [See “Missouri Vioxx Class Action Settlement.”]
The two class action settlements will resolve dozens of lawsuits filed against Merck following the Vioxx recall in September 2004. The drug was recalled after data from a clinical trial showed a significantly higher rate of heart attacks in people who had used Vioxx consecutively for 18 months. Plaintiffs alleged that Merck “intentionally, recklessly and/or negligently concealed, suppressed, omitted and misrepresented the dangers, defects and disadvantages of Vioxx.”
The lawsuits were consolidated into multidistrict litigation before U.S. District Judge Eldon E. Fallon in Louisiana federal court.
The Vioxx MDL is In re: Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 1657, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana.
Top Class Actions will update our readers on how to file a claim for the nationwide Vioxx class action lawsuit settlement if it is approved. Sign up for our free weekly newsletter below to receive class action settlement updates in your inbox each week. [UPDATE: Claim filing instructions can be found here in our Open Class Action Lawsuits section.]
Were you or a loved one injured by an undisclosed drug side effect? You may have a legal claim for compensation. Class action lawsuit investigations have been launched against multiple drug companies, including the makers of Zoloft, Zithromax, Lipitor, Januvia, Victoza, Byetta, and more. Visit our Class Action Lawsuit Settlement Investigation section for more details.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
11 thoughts onMerck Agrees to $23M Vioxx Class Action Lawsuit Settlement
Is anyone getting help with filing a claim I was on workmen comp and prescribed Vioxx and I told doctor I think that stuff caused me a heart attack been having strokes ever since and able to do less and less and bills keep coming etc