Fourth Vioxx Trial Set for The Valley

A jury in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, a traditionally plaintiff-friendly location, will hear the nation's next Vioxx suit. The trial in Felicia Garza, et al. v. Michael D. Evans, M.D., et al. is set to begin on Jan. 24 in 229th District Judge Alex W. Gabert's court in Starr County. The trial will be the first in 2006 and the fourth Vioxx suit to go to a jury, following a plaintiff's state-court win in Angleton -- the verdict totaled $253.5 million -- a defense win in state court in New Jersey, and a mistrial in federal court in Houston. The family of Leonel Garza Sr. alleges in its second amended petition that the Vioxx a physician gave Garza on April 4, 2001, caused his fatal heart attack on April 21, 2001. The plaintiffs are suing Vioxx manufacturer Merck & Co. Inc., of New Jersey, and two of Garza's doctors, Michael D. Evans and Juan D. Posada. The plaintiffs allege in their petition that Evans, Posada and Merck were negligent, and they also bring claims of strict liability, breach of warranties, negligent misrepresentation, gross neglect and gross negligence against Merck. In the petition, the plaintiffs, who include Garza's widow, three sons and daughter, seek unspecified actual and punitive damages. Garza died at age 71. According to the second amended petition, Evans and Posada are represented by Ronald G. Hole, a partner in McAllen's Hole & Alvarez, but Hole could not immediately be reached for comment. In a written statement on Jan. 10, Merck defense lawyer Ted Mayer, a partner in Hughes, Hubbard & Reed in New York, says there is "no reliable evidence" the pain-killer Vioxx caused Garza's heart attack. "We are confident that any fair jury will find that Vioxx had nothing to do with the unfortunate passing of Mr. Garza," Mayer says. The plaintiffs' lawyers filed the suit in March 2003. On two occasions, once in 2003 and once in 2005, Merck removed the suit to federal court, but in November 2005, U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon of New Orleans, who is presiding over the federal multidistrict Vioxx litigation, remanded Garza to the 229th District in Starr County. Last week, Gabert set the trial for Jan. 24. The plaintiffs team in Garza includes Joe Escobedo Jr., David H. Hockema, John L. Tippit and Mauro F. Ruiz, all of Hockema, Tippit & Escobedo in Edinburg; Alberto A. Munoz II of the Law Office of Alberto A. Munoz II in Edinburg; and Kathryn Snapka, a partner in Corpus Christi's Snapka & Turman. Kent Jarrell, a Vioxx trial spokesman for Merck, says the defense trial team may include, depending on lawyer schedules, Richard Josephson and Travis Sales, partners in Baker Botts in Houston; Ricardo Cedillo, a shareholder in Davis, Cedillo & Mendoza in San Antonio; Rene Oliveria, a partner in Roerig, Oliveria & Fisher in Brownsville; and/or Jaime Saenz, a partner in Rodriguez, Colvin, Chaney & Saenz of Brownsville. Merck voluntarily withdrew Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after a study indicated the drug could double the risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or longer.