Jurors in Illinois begin hearing arguments in Midwest's first Vioxx trial

A Madison County jury was seated Wednesday to begin hearing a widower's claims that Merck & Co.'s former blockbuster painkiller Vioxx contributed to his 52-year-old wife's fatal heart attack more than three years ago.

Attorneys for both sides were to spell out their case for jurors later Wednesday in the Midwest's first trial over the arthritis medication. Merck pulled Vioxx off the market in 2004 after research showed it increased the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Madison County in southwest Illinois has become known as a place where lawyers come seeking big payouts, from cases involving everything from asbestos exposure to medical malpractice. Plaintiffs in certain cases have been awarded as much as tens of millions of dollars.

Patricia Schwaller had been taking Vioxx for more than 20 months before the Granite City woman died suddenly Aug. 8, 2003, her family's attorneys say. The woman had no previous heart attacks, strokes or symptoms of congestive heart disease, the attorneys say.

Her husband, Frank Schwaller, accuses Merck of failing to adequately warn consumers of Vioxx's potential risks before withdrawing the drug.

But Merck hopes to argue _ as it has in previous trials involving Vioxx _ that heart problems by certain plaintiffs, including Patricia Schwaller, were caused by pre-existing health issues, not Vioxx. The company also contends it properly warned doctors of possible complications from the painkiller.

Merck has said the company acted responsibly every step of the way, from researching Vioxx to monitoring it on the market and voluntarily withdrawing the drug.

Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck has been deluged with more than 27,000 personal injury lawsuits and another 265 potential class-action lawsuits alleging harm from Vioxx. Merck, which has reserved $1.64 billion in its Vioxx legal defense fund, has won most of the roughly dozen trials involving Vioxx so far.

The Schwaller case is expected to be watched closely to see how the legal wrangling over Vioxx plays out in America's heartland _ notably in Madison County, which in recent years has tried to shed its reputation as a plaintiffs' paradise in big-money lawsuits.

The county earned that reputation in part because of a March 2003 decision by a Madison County who judge issued a $10.1 billion verdict favoring smokers who sued Philip Morris USA in a class-action lawsuit involving "light" cigarettes. The Illinois Supreme Court later threw out that ruling, and the nation's high court let that decision stand last November.

The Vioxx trial is expected to last four to six weeks.