FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alex Winslow
512-381-1111
August 22,
2005
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE
VIOXX VERDICT
Special interest Texas law
trumps citizen juries; Wrongdoers reap windfall
Consumer group calls for
change in punitive damages law to help children’s health
care
Last week, a jury in Angleton ,
Texas found that the drug Vioxx led to the death of a
Texas man named Robert Ernst -- and that the drug company
knew the drug was harmful. As a result of 15-plus years of
pro-defendant legal changes, this decision will be
virtually meaningless.
“A panel of independent citizens
found that corporate wrongdoers who put individuals at
risk -- like the makers of Vioxx -- should be held
accountable,” said Alex Winslow, Executive Director of the
non-partisan consumer organization, Texas Watch.
“Unfortunately, the legal changes that were passed under
the guise of so-called tort ‘reform’ and a Texas Supreme
Court beholden to corporate interests have rendered jury
verdicts virtually meaningless.”
Despite the Angleton jury’s
intention to severely punish Merck & Co. for its actions,
Texas law protects wrongdoers by drastically limiting the
punitive damage assessment. Punitive damages should be
stiff enough to serve as a deterrent to companies who are
considering marketing a dangerous product.
Vioxx had annual sales of roughly
$2.5 billion when the drug was found to be dangerously
defective. Under Texas law, Merck can be forced to pay no
more than $26.1 million, amounting to only about 1% of
Vioxx’s annual sales.
In 2001, Merck estimated that it
would make a $229 million windfall if it could delay an
FDA warning about the danger of Vioxx. Under Texas ’
arbitrary political computation Merck will be rewarded for
its deception by requiring the company to pay only pennies
on the dollar.
Winslow suggested that lawmakers
should change the law so that jury assessments above the
arbitrary legislative formula go to the state to help pay
for health insurance for working families. In the Vioxx
case, that would amount to roughly $200 million. That
money would enable lawmakers to completely restore deep
cuts in the children’s health insurance plan (CHIP).
“Instead of letting Vioxx makers
escape responsibility, lawmakers should force these
wrongdoers to improve public health for our children –
that would be real tort reform,” said Winslow. “Two
hundred million dollars would go a long way toward
ensuring that all Texas children have access to health
care.”
The law in Texas gives wrongdoers
an incentive to take cases like Vioxx to trial rather than
settling out of court. This practice increases the burden
not only on the victims and their families, but also on
taxpayers.
“Lawmakers claim to support
greater judicial efficiency, but the reality is that these
laws are designed to protect big drug companies and
insurance lobbyists – not taxpayers or victims,” said
Winslow. |
