First Federal Fosamax Case Goes to the Jury; Plaintiffs Lawyers Are Watching
In the first of about 900 federal Fosamax cases to go to trial, a lawyer for Merck & Co. argued in closing statements Wednesday that the drug didn’t cause the 71-year-old plaintiff’s jaw problems.
Product liability lawyers are closely watching the New York trial to see which arguments resonate with the jury, according to the New York Times. The plaintiff, retired deputy sheriff Shirley Boles, claims that her osteonecrosis of the jaw was caused by nine years of taking Fosamax. The disease causes the gums to “fall away and expose bone that looks moth-eaten,” the Times says.
Boles’ lead lawyer, Timothy O’Brien, has introduced internal corporate e-mails and documents in an attempt to show that Merck knew the drug caused jaw problems, but did not warn about it early enough.
Merck lawyer Paul Strain argued that Boles had a history of health problems, and her worst outbreak of the jaw condition was this year, three years after she stopped taking Fosamax, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. “You cannot blame Fosamax for that,” he said.
He said the idea that Fosamax causes osteonecrosis is “a theory without scientific basis.”
