N.J. Jury Awards $47.5 Million to Idaho Couple in Vioxx Trial

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - Jurors in New Jersey have awarded $47.5 million in damages to an Idaho postal worker and his wife after finding that Vioxx contributed to the plaintiff's 2001 non-fatal heart attack and that Merck & Co. Inc. was reckless in promoting the now-withdrawn arthritis drug. Humeston v. Merck & Co. Inc., No. ATL-L-2272-03 (N.J. Super. Ct., Atlantic Cty.).

In the second phase of a two-part trial, the five-man, three-woman jury in Atlantic County Superior Court also found that Frederick 'Mike' Humeston's physician would not have prescribed Vioxx to the plaintiff had Merck adequately warned the doctor of …