Legal News

Court of Appeals says no to Vioxx class action

By Richard Binder

The manufacturer of Vioxx cannot be sued in a class action by consumers who claim they were misled into buying the painkiller before it was pulled off the market in 2004, according to the Court of Appeals Division Three. This affirms a ruling by then-Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Victoria Chaney, who has since been elevated to the Court of Appeal.

The proposed class action sought reimbursement for the difference between what they paid for Vioxx and what they would have paid for less costly but safer medications. Chaney said there were too many variables to consider for each litigant, such as how long they took Vioxx and each individual medical history, to determine damages. The judge also concluded that the individual plaintiffs? claims were atypical of third parties who paid for the drug on behalf of subscribers to prescription drug plans.

Div. Three found nothing in Chaney's original ruling that was erroneous.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on December 16, 2009 (boomark / email).