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Ratliff claims in his suit that the company knew about the drug 's risks since " shortly after the drug was approved for use " by the federal Food and Drug Administration in May 1999 . Attorneys are taking that kickoff to be the day Merck withdrew its $ 2.5 billion-a-year arthritis pill from the market , Sept. 30 2004.States with a one-year filing deadline include Kentucky , Louisiana and Tennessee , according to Cherry Hill lawyer Mike Ferrara , who filed 48 suits in time to make the Sept. 30 deadline.New York attorney Gary Douglas filed eight cases in New Jersey and 72 others in federal courts — which follow their states ' deadlines — under the wire.Seeger , Ferrara and Douglas said that given the huge backlog in New Jersey , Higbee — who is overseeing every New Jersey case — needs to assign some to other judges and Merck must agree to settle the bulk of them . His testimony Friday , however , aligned squarely with defense claims that Arrant , also 25 , seized on and expanded the teenager 's exaggerations of abuse by her mother because he wanted Lauri Waterman out of the way in order to resume a sexual relationship with her daughter . The lawsuit by Ernst 's widow , Carol Ernst , is the first of more than 4,200 Vioxx-related state and federal lawsuits to go before a jury.The New Jersey pharmaceutical giant pulled the drug from the market last year after a study showed it doubled risk of heart attack or stroke if taken for 18 months or more , but the company claims no studies link Vioxx to arrhythmia.Last week Merck 's lawyers presented evidence that the company studied whether Vioxx caused arrhythmias in nine clinical trials before the drug went on the market in 1999 . " That information will be damaging , but the real key here is the eyewitness testimony — one witness who claims to have seen my client in a dark alley 25 years ago , " Kaplovitz said.Kaplovitz describes Watts as a cordial man who has been very cooperative and receptive to his court-appointed lawyer . " Scott wrote during the era that consistently preoccupies Victorian novelists ; as the examples above show , their own historical fiction is frequently set during the moment when Scott was himself inventing the genre . Some are Merck consultants.Sam Davis is here - - sizing up the witnesses , jurors , judge and dynamics at play in the trial - - looking for anything that might give him an edge when he gets his day in court . ATLANTIC CITY ( AP ) The judge hearing the Vioxx product liability suit in Atlantic City threatened to declare a mistrial Thursday.The judge says Merck 's lead lawyer violated pretrial instructions barring comments about lawyers in front of the jury.The judge says Diane Sullivan made repeated negative references to lawyers in her opening statement yesterday.In her opening , Sullivan made reference to the plaintiff being surrounded by lawyers.The judge says there 's a perception that there are too many lawsuits and it 's causing society problems.Thursday 's testimony has been delayed while the judge considers whether the Whitehouse Station-based drug maker can admit into evidence a key 2005 memo from a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee.The plaintiff claims Vioxx caused his heart attack . Every month , on average , death row gets a new inmate , but the Department of Corrections does not have a single execution scheduled . Merck said its appeals will include claims that the judge erred by allowing testimony from unqualified experts and the undisclosed witness.The federal case may be Merck 's best shot at an early win , and the company desperately needs a victory if it does n't want to be pressured into settling cases en masse , experts said .