Merck Judge Uses A Chess Clock To Speed Case
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
A New Jersey judge is trying a new tactic to help clear 5,100 lawsuits off her docket, as the latest trial over Merck’s Vioxx painkiller started on Monday.
Superior Court Judge Carol Higbee, hearing her second Vioxx case, imposed time limits and is using a chess clock to enforce them, in an attempt to finish the trial in half the time her first one took.
Judge Higbee allotted 40 hours to lawyers for Thomas Cona, 59, and John McDarby, 77, to present evidence to jurors that Merck knew the dangers of Vioxx and failed to warn of them. Merck will have 35 hours to make its case that Cona and McDarby had heart attacks because of pre-existing health conditions rather than the drug.
