WHAT A HEEL!: Juror Hides Financial Ties To Vioxx Plaintiff Awarded $32 Million
Lawyers for Merck & Co., which manufactures the painkiller Vioxx, are looking into a serious conflict of interest involving one of the jurors in a lawsuit that found the pharmaceutical company liable for Leonel Garza's fatal heart attack. In a post-trial deposition, school janitor Jose Manuel Rios testified to receiving a $10,000 interest free loan from the plaintiff in the case, Garza's widow, Felicia. According to The Associated Press, Rios, who earns $22,000 a year, paid off one $2,500 loan just weeks before he was selected as a juror. Merck’s legal team has asked to review Rios’ bank and cell phone records to determine the extent of the financial relationship between him and Mrs. Garza. In an affidavit, one of Rios’s colleagues who knew about the loans states that he told her, "I can't wait to get back to court" and that she admonished him, "You know you don't belong there."
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