Judge Says Recovery from Decedent's Prescribing Doctor Possible, Remands Vioxx Claim

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A federal judge has remanded a Vioxx lawsuit filed on behalf of a woman who died after taking the recalled arthritis drug, determining that a prescribing doctor named as a defendant in the case was not fraudulently joined. Zajicek v. Merck & Co., Inc., et al., No. 04-095 (S.D. Texas).

In a 16-page opinion issued Jan. 7, Judge Janis Graham Jack of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas held that because there is a reasonable possibility that plaintiffs will overcome a statute of limitations defense asserted by defendant Merck & Co., and …