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The company made enormous profits from the drug while it was selling it; it was highly effective for its on-label purpose and had no known dangerous side effects. After finding that they could be responsible for causing heart problems in patients taking the drug, the company pulled it for ethical reasons and as a means of protecting the company form legal and financial liability -- ongoing cases would have made the drug unprofitable, even with proper warnings (or so it seemed). Then, rather than pursuing cases that it was clearly winning, Merck spent less than one year's profits to settle all pending cases, coming out very much on top financially and in the clear legally. The fact that competitors still offer similar drugs suggests that Merck might actually have been to conservative in its response to the Vioxx issue. A re-release...
The plaintiff must show that the activities the defendant is engaging in cause a material difference in the use of the plaintiff's property, and that the defendant's actions are not standard, necessary, or otherwise legally protected. The defendant can resist the suit by proving any of the above. A common business tort is theft of intellectual property; plaintiffs must prove that a documented original concept/idea/image/etc. Of their creation was utilized by the defendant without permission, generally for commercial purposes. The defendant must prove a fair use defense or the receipt of authorization if the idea was original to the plaintiff.
It is different than a criminal action, which involves a breach of duty owed to society at large. It is possible that actions are both tors and crimes; but only the state may prosecute a crime, but any injured party may bring a lawsuit against another as a tort ruling. There are a number of different torts; ranging from assault to negligence, all with foundations in the common law
Class actions represent a consolidation of power by plaintiffs and alleged victims in a case, allowing groups of plaintiffs to consolidate their cases and seek a single judgment for collective damages. Though this is primarily a way of strengthening each plaintiff's case and their cases as a whole, it has certain benefits to defendants as well. By dealing with the Vioxx cases as a class action and coming to an
Class Actions: Class actions, which are more widely available in the U.S., offer the opportunity to condense the suits into one action. When there is a group where all the members have similar claims, one party is the representative plaintiff and brings suit on behalf of the entire class against the defendant. In a class action, Merck would be able to deal with multiple claimants at once, minimizing legal costs
Marketing, Product Safety, and Intellectual Property Ethical issues relating to marketing and advertising, intellectual property, and regulation of product safety Various organizations often find themselves in the wrong side of the law when undertaking their various business practices relating to marketing and advertisement. It is the desire of every company to have its product known to as many consumers as possible. This often drives them to employ diverse marketing and advertisement