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ONTARIO COURT AWARDS
CARRIAGE OF VIOXX® NATIONAL CLASS ACTION
TO NATIONAL TEAM OF LAWYERS
February
6, 2006 (Toronto, ON): In a decision just released, Regional Senior Justice
Warren Winkler of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice has ruled that a
National Team of 19 law firms, including eight (8) Ontario law firms, and
led by a Steering Committee, will have carriage in Ontario of a proposed
national class action relating to the painkiller Vioxx®.
The effect
of the decision is to stay other proposed class actions that had been
started in Ontario
after drug-maker Merck issued a voluntary, worldwide withdrawal of the drug
on September 30, 2004.
In
deciding to award carriage of the class action to the Ontario
law firms participating in the National Team, Justice Winker recognized
that the National Team is "comprised of many pre-eminent class action
counsel from across Canada”
and has “extensive experience at every court level involving
certification of class proceedings”. He further noted that the
National Team's "combined resources, financial and otherwise, and
breadth of experience” were significant. The court also noted the public's
perception of the National Team, reflected by the fact that it has been
contacted by more than 6,600 potential class action members from across the
country.
With the
issue of carriage of the proceedings resolved, the National Team is poised
to proceed with a motion to have the proceeding certified as a class action
on behalf of all persons in Canada (other than Quebec) who were prescribed
and who ingested Vioxx®, as well as on behalf of all third parties who paid
for the drug.
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