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" His case is one of about 7,000 lawsuits brought against the Whitehouse Station-based drug company , which pulled the prescription painkiller off the market 13 months ago after a study showed it doubled the risk of heart attack and stroke after 18 months ' use.The closely watched case is important for Merck , which lost the first trial over Vioxx when a Texas jury awarded $ 253 million in damages to the widow of a Vioxx user . She had given him his liberty ; true , there was a sense in which he had never parted with it , but now was no time for splitting hairs ; he was free to act , and all was clear ahead . " Some people will shy away from such cases if they do n't know the documents and the science , " Birchfield said.Juror Nellie Stetzer said Merck 's highlighting of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration report saying that Cox-2 inhibitors , the class of drugs which includes Vioxx , do n't cause heart attacks with short-term use stuck in her mind . His face all this time wore no expression save that of tiredness . She had no tact ; really ought to have known that people are not at home to the thoughts of everybody all the time ; ought in mere politeness to have allowed him certain seasons quite to himself ; and was monstrously ignorant of things if she did not know , as she appeared not to know , that there were certain special hours when a man 's veins ran with fire and daring and power , in which . The sound he had heard had not bee loud - - it had been , indeed , no more than a tap , twice or thrice repeated - - but it had filled Oleron with alarm . Higbee disagreed and told Raber to instruct his witness not to bring it up again.In the first Vioxx trial in August , a Texas jury found Merck liable in a Vioxx user 's death . Some are Wall Street analysts keeping tabs on the case because of its potential impact on Merck 's stock . For the handwriting of the two letters that Oleron , stealing noiselessly one June day into his kitchen to rid his sitting-room of an armful of fetid and decaying flowers , had seen on the floor within his door , had had no more meaning for him than if it had belonged to some dim and far-away dream . There , another slant of blue moonlight cut the windowsill and law across the pipes on the wall . In August , a Texas jury found the company liable in a Vioxx user 's death . This posting should be a minimum of 15-20 lines , although you should feel free to write more if you get inspired . At every point , we will attempt to register the shifting complexity of the connection between two genres that emerged simultaneously for similar reasons , shared many interests and concerns , and yet in the end differed so profoundly from one another . But on another day , soon after , he had a fright th at left him trembling also for an hour . Another was listed in serious condition and the third was in fair condition , both at Lakeview Medical Center.Hunter Bill Wagner , 72 , of Oshkosh , was about two miles away near Deer Lake with a party of about 20 other hunters . " I think I 'd be scheduled to try a case when I 'm 432 , " Douglas joked.Seeger said it 's only a matter of time until Merck announces plans to settle some cases , although attorneys believe the company wants to see how the first ones play out before entering settlement talks.The lawsuits generally allege Vioxx caused cardiovascular problems , including heart attacks , strokes and dangerous blood clots , or kidney damage or gastrointestinal bleeding . He walked slowly for a reason , twice turning away from the house within a stone's-throw of the gate and taking another turn of twenty minutes or so . It was as if at the threshold of some golden portal prepared for Oleron a pit should suddenly gape , as if a bat-like shadow should turn the growing dawn to mirk and darkness again . However , Mayer said Merck has persuaded state judges in " a fairly large number " of such cases to transfer them to federal court , arguing the second defendant is not a bona fide target.Cases filed in Merck 's home state of New Jersey , where about half the existing cases are filed , cannot legally be moved to federal court.In Atlantic City , where Merck is wrapping up its defense against a postal worker who blames his heart attack on Vioxx , a cardiology expert on Monday said in testimony that there is no evidence someone who took Vioxx so briefly was at increased risk of a heart attack.Plaintiff Frederick Humeston , 60 , of Boise , Idaho , took the painkiller for about two months before the heart attack on Sept. 18 , 2001 .