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Seeger Weiss LLP, announced today that 93 percent of eligible individuals have enrolled in the nationwide VIOXX settlement program first announced last November. Under the program, Merck has set aside $4.85 billion to compensate those claimants who suffered a heart attack, ischemic stroke, or sudden cardiac death while taking the drug.
Seeger Weiss founding partner, Chris Seeger, who was one of the chief negotiators of the settlement, has over the last several months joined other attorneys from Seeger Weiss and the Plaintiffs Negotiating Committee in meeting with lawyers from around the country to guide them through the enrollment process. Given his intimate knowledge of the proceedings, Mr. Seeger is not surprised by the settlement program’s success, stating: ‘While the size and scope of the program is one of the largest and most complex of any pharmaceutical litigation in history, the high rate of enrollment is unprecedented and represents a decisive endorsement of its fairness.’
Mr. Seeger and his firm have been one of the nation’s leaders in the Vioxx litigation since 2001, serving as lead counsel in two trials, resulting in a $47.5 million verdict for the plaintiff in that case, and Co-Lead Counsel for the Plaintiffs Steering Committee in the federal litigation before the Honorable E. Eldon Fallon. His partner, David Buchanan, serves as Co-Liaison Counsel in the New Jersey Vioxx Litigation.
Under the program, those claimants enrolling in the program by February 29, 2008, may qualify to receive an early interim payment of their settlement proceeds. Mr. Seeger and his co-counsel will continue to work with attorneys and the program administrators to facilitate enrollment.