Questions For My Attorney

I just found a place where my attorney (allegedly) made some statements on December 27, 2007 at 7:39 pm. This is a copy of his “comment” on a blog at http://frommedskool.com.

Mark Lanier said:

“Please be more precise in your practice of medicine than you are in your blogging! First off, I (Mark Lanier) was not the “defense attorney.” I was the “Plaintiffs’ attorney.” Second, my “favorite piece of evidence” you cite (the Gilmartin questioning) was not played at trial. Third, there was a huge amount of info Merck had that it never gave the FDA, there were smoking gun memos and emails, and there was huge harassment of the medical community done by Merck. For example, Merck did a full meta-analysis of placebo trial that showed a statistically significant increase in heart attacks, but Merck excised that from the report given the FDA. Even Merck’s head admitted they should have given the analysis to the FDA.”

Here it is less than one month later, in fact the letter that I received was dated January 9, 2008 “recommending” that I enroll in the settlement program put together by Merck and a “Plaintiffs Steering Committee”. (As you will note, PSC’s middle name…Steer-ing…sounds like bull to me)

As any person who has worked in the legal field (as I have) knows, you do not sign a "Release of Liability" without some type of monetary discussion and agreement of the terms. Merck and my attorney wants me (as well as many others) to sign a Release prior to agreeing on a monetary amount. In fact, they want this "Release" signed with "No Guarantee" of even being found "eligible" for a settlement.

This raises some questions in my mind, those questions are:
(1) What is the “Gilmartin questioning” and where can I get a copy of such “evidence”?
(2) Since you (Mr. Lanier) are aware of such evidence why are you now wanting to “recommend” to all of your Vioxx clients to take this settlement?
(3) Along with your “recommendation”, is the threat that if I don’t take the settlement you will no longer represent me, supposed to frighten me?

I am not the only plaintiff feeling this way and if you are of the same mind, or even if you don’t feel the same, I invite you to join a group of plaintiffs currently refusing to sign this “Release Of All Claims” that we all recently received. Just go to the Vioxx Plaintiffs Educational Group (VPEG)to learn more.

If you are an attorney looking to represent us "hold outs" when (and if) our current attorneys "withdraw" or "disengage" us go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mercksettlementlaw (VPAG)