Vioxx | First Lawsuit

The first lawsuit against Vioxx was filed by Carol Ernst for the death of her husband from a heart attack in 2001. In 2005 the Texas jury in the trial found Merck liable and made an award of $24 million to Carol Ernst for mental anguish and loss of companionship, and a further award of $229 million in punitive damages.

This was seen as the tip of the iceberg and it was at that time estimated that Merck's liabilities could run up to something like $25 billion.

By the time of this verdict, over 4,000 lawsuits against Merck had been filed. The drug had been recalled by Merck in September 2004, following growing concerns over the dangers it caused.

Ref: CNNMoney.com