Sour Grapes – Supreme Court Vioxx appeal doesn’t account for big picture

A few unhappy lawyers have asked the Supreme Court to dismantle the 2007 Vioxx settlement. Over 25,000 consumers, who suffered a heart attack or stroke, have received compensation for their injuries. Relatively few people felt that the settlement they were offered was unfair. I doubt the Supreme Court will accept the case. It is unfortunate that good settlements are attacked by a few people in an effort to extract a payment from those who have worked so hard to protect the injured people. Their efforts inhibit the ability to resolve cases in a fair and expeditious manner by agreement. With many litigations proceeding including Yazmin blood clots and strokes, Depuy and Zimmer metal on metal hip replacements, Fosamax thigh fracture, Paxil birth defect and fixadent zinc poisoning, to name a few that we are involved in, the idea that the parties can never reach a voluntary opt-in global settlement would potentially flood the courts and make it difficult to settle cases and get clients their just remuneration in a timely fashion.