In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation

239 F.R.D. 450, 2006 WL 3391432
District Court, E.D. Louisiana·Decided November 22, 2006·No. MDL No. 1657·Published·Cited by 29 cases

Opinion

ORDER & REASONS

FALLON, District Judge.

Before the Court is the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee’s (“PSC”) Motion for Certification of a Nation-Wide Class Action for Personal Injury and Wrongful Death (Rec.Doe.2171). The Court heard oral argument and took this motion under submission. For the following reasons, the PSC’s motion is DENIED.

I. BACKGROUND

This multidistrict products liability litigation involves the prescription drug Vioxx, known generically as Rofeeoxib. Merck & Co., Inc. (“Merck”), a New Jersey corporation, researched, designed, manufactured, marketed, and distributed Vioxx to relieve pain and inflammation resulting from osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, menstrual pain, and migraine headaches. On May 20, 1999, the Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) approved Vioxx for sale in the United States. Vioxx remained on the market until September 30, 2004, at which time Merck withdrew it from the market when data from a clinical trial known as APPROVe indicated that the use of Vioxx increased the risk of cardiovascular thrombotic events such as myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) and ischemic strokes. Thereafter, thousands of individual suits and numerous class actions were filed against Merck in state and federal courts throughout the country alleging various tort and products liability claims. It is estimated that 105 million prescriptions for Vioxx were written in the United States between May 20,1999 and September 30, 2004. Based on this estimate, it is thought that approximately 20 million patients have taken Vioxx in the United States.1

On February 16, 2005, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (“JPML”) conferred multidistrict litigation status on Vioxx lawsuits filed in federal court and transferred all such cases to this Court to coordinate discovery and to consolidate pretrial matters pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1407. See 360 F.Supp.2d 1352.2 This multidistrict litigation is designated MDL-1657 and is captioned In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation. The first status conference in this MDL was held on March 18, 2005. Shortly thereafter, the Court appointed committees of counsel to represent the parties and discovery in this litigation commenced.3 Conferences to review the status of the proceedings and to deal with various issues coming before the Court have been held on a monthly basis.4

[453]*453In addition to thousands of individual claims, this MDL currently includes over 160 class actions emanating from nearly every state. These class actions allege three types of claims: (1) personal injury and wrongful death claims; (2) medical monitoring claims; and (3) purchase claims. On June 2, 2005, the Court issued Pretrial Order No. 16 which directed the PSC to file master complaints in this Court with respect to each type of class action. Accordingly, on August 2, 2005, the PSC filed a Master Class Action Complaint for Cases Involving Personal Injury and Wrongful Death. The PSC also filed a Medical Monitoring Master Class Action Complaint and a Purchase Claims Master Class Action Complaint, however these two putative class actions are not presently before the Court. Thus, this opinion deals only with the personal injury and wrongful death class actions.

Master complaints help the Court and the parties focus on common issues in an efficient and effective manner and they apply to all pending class actions and to those subsequently filed, removed, or transferred to this Court as part of MDL 1657. In the Master Class Action Complaint for Cases Involving Personal Injury and Wrongful Death (“Master Complaint”), the PSC alleges that Vioxx was a defective product; that Merck misrepresented the safety of Vioxx and negligently manufactured, marketed, advertised, and sold Vioxx as a safe prescription medication, when in fact Merck knew or should have known that Vioxx was not safe for its intended purpose; and that Vioxx caused serious medical problems, and in certain patients, catastrophic injuries, and death.

On December 8, 2005, the PSC filed the instant motion to certify a nationwide class action under Rule 23(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure consisting of:

All persons residing in the United States who took Vioxx in any dose at any time between May 20, 1999 when Vioxx was first approved by the United States Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”), and September 30, 2004, when Vioxx was withdrawn from the market, and who claim personal injuries or assert wrongful death claims arising from ingestion of Vioxx.

The PSC presents Rosemary Lawrence and Raymond Gibney, both New Jersey residents, as class representatives on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated in the United States. Ms. Lawrence is a 59-year-old woman who took Vioxx for at least eight months and suffered a pulmonary embolism on July 30, 2002. Mr. Gibney is a 76-year-old man who took Vioxx for approximately one year and suffered a heart attack on December 29, 2002. Both Ms. Lawrence and Mr. Gibney allege that their injuries were caused by Vioxx.

The PSC contends that New Jersey substantive law can and should be applied to all personal injury and wrongful death claims made by United States residents. The basic thrust of the PSC’s argument in favor of applying New Jersey products liability law is that (1) Merck is headquartered in New Jersey and, thus, all of its decisions regarding the manufacturing, testing, labeling, marketing, and advertising of Vioxx originated in and emanated from New Jersey and (2) New Jersey has a unique and strong interest in regulating the conduct of its corporate citizens and specifically in deterring wrongful conduct by New Jersey pharmaceutical companies.

[454]*454Merck opposes certification of a nationwide class action on two grounds. First, Merck argues that the proposed class members’ claims must be adjudicated under the substantive laws of the states in which they resided, ingested, and were allegedly injured by Vioxx and, thus, there is no commonality of law. Second, Merck contends that certification is inappropriate because each plaintiffs claim involves separate and distinct factual issues.5

II. LAW & ANALYSIS

Before determining whether a nationwide class action may be certified under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the Court must first determine which state’s or states’ substantive law will govern the class. See Spence v. Glock, 227 F.3d 308, 311 (5th Cir.2000); Castano v. Am. Tobacco Co., 84 F.3d 734, 741-42 (5th Cir.1996). To make this determination, the Court must conduct a choice-of-law analysis. Each state has its own choice-of-law rules that its courts use to select the applicable law. Therefore, the Court must first decide which state’s choice-of-law rules to apply. The Court will then apply these rules to determine which state’s or states’ substantive law will govern the class.

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In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation, 239 F.R.D. 450, 2006 WL 3391432 (E.D. La. 2006).

239 F.R.D. 450 (In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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