Vioxx Trial Set to Begin in Texas

Leonel Garza was 71 when he died of a heart attack, 23 years after being diagnosed with heart disease and decades after a heart attack and a quadruple bypass.

But his lawyers who are suing Merck & Co. say it was the Vioxx that he took for arm pain for 17 days that killed him. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Rio Grande City, a town of about 12,000 people less than five miles from the Texas-Mexico border.

Even though the New Jersey pharmaceutical giant is facing hundreds of lawsuits from people who took the painkiller before it was pulled from the market, Garza’s case would have little hope of making it to trial anywhere but the Rio Grande Valley, some legal experts say.

The valley is a known prize for “venue shopping” by trial lawyers looking for large verdicts from sympathetic jurors. “This jurisdiction has been viewed as one of the toughest jurisdictions for corporate defendants in the country,” said Peter Bicks, a New York lawyer who has defended large companies in Texas.

Merck withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after a study showed it could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer.