In re Vioxx Products Liability Litigation
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana
501 F. Supp. 2d 789 (2007)

- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
Merck (defendant) was sued by thousands of individuals and numerous class action parties (plaintiffs) for product-liability issues related to its drug Vioxx. During the litigation, Merck produced over two million documents but claimed attorney-client privilege to withhold production of approximately 30,000 documents that held communications between Merck employees and Merck’s own in-house counsel. The court appointed a special master to review a representative sample of the withheld documents and make recommendations as to whether Merck’s claim of attorney-client privilege should be upheld.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Fallon, J.)
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