Texas Appeals Court Voids $7.75 Million Award in Vioxx Death Suit

A Texas appeals court has overturned a $7.75 million award to a woman who said her husband's fatal heart attack was caused by the recalled pain drug Vioxx.

The 4th District Court of Appeals in San Antonio said that while Felicia Garza was not obligated to prove that the Merck & Co. product caused her husband's April 2001 heart attack, the evidence she did provide was insufficient to rule out other possible causes.

Leonel Garza's death also could have been caused by his history of heart disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol, weight control problems, and his 30 years as a cigarette smoker, the three-judge panel said.

In 2006 a jury in the Starr County District Court awarded Felicia Garza $25 million in punitive damages and $7 million in compensatory damages, finding that Leonel's heart attack was caused by the Vioxx he had used for one month to control arm pain.

Judge Alex W. Gabert later cut the punitive damages to $750,000, citing Texas statutory caps limiting punitives to twice the amount of economic damages or $750,000 when no economic damages are awarded.

Merck appealed, saying that while Felicia Garza's evidence may have met general causation standards, she lacked evidence showing with reasonable certainty that Vioxx killed her husband.

Garza told the appeals court that, taken together, her evidence and expert testimony pointed to a link between the death and the pain drug.

She noted that two physicals within a month of his death showed Leonel Garza to be in "stable cardiac status."

Further, she said, there was no explanation for the discovery during an autopsy of two clots in arteries near his heart other than his starting to use Vioxx.

The appeals court overturned the verdict and award, finding that while a doctor who testified as an expert for the plaintiffs said Vioxx caused the death, "no scientific evidence was offered to support [the expert's] opinion that the two clots were 'rare' for someone with Mr. Garza's risk factors."

The doctor also provided "no scientific connection between exposure to Vioxx for less than 25 days and the simultaneous formation of two clots," the panel said.

Even viewing the evidence in a light most favorable to the plaintiff, there was insufficient data to negate Leonel Garza's pre-existing heart condition as a possible cause of his death, the appeals court said.

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Merck is represented by Richard Josephson and Travis Sales of Baker Botts in Houston.The plaintiffs are represented by Joe Escobedo Jr., Luis Cardenas and John Tippit in McAllen, Texas, and Alberto Munoz II in Edinburg, Texas.