Human Resource Selection 9th Edition by Marianne Jennings

Exercise 12

Pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck is experiencing ongoing litigation over its drug Vioxx because of customers who say they had cardiovascular side effects from taking the anti-arthritis pain drug. As of mid-2007, Merck was facing 9,500 lawsuits that a federal judge ruled could not be tried as class actions because of the different health issues among the plaintiffs who were bringing the suits against Merck. A jury in a federal court in New Orleans cleared Merck of any responsibility for the death of Richard Irvin, a Florida resident who had a fatal heart attack one month after he began to take Vioxx. In 2005, Merck won one state court verdict in New Jersey and lost another state court trial in Texas. Why would some of the cases be tried in state court and some be tried in federal court? Explain the differing decisions.