Profile of Mark Lanier, Plaintiff Lawyer for Vioxx Lawsuit

From the New York Times:

On Friday, the jury fulfilled Mr. Lanier's wishes, finding Merck liable for the death of Robert C. Ernst, who died in 2001 after taking Merck's painkiller Vioxx for eight months. The jury awarded $253.5 million to Carol Ernst, Mr. Ernst's widow and Mr. Lanier's client, in one of the largest damage awards ever to a single plaintiff...

Dr. Maria M. Araneta, the coroner who conducted Mr. Ernst's autopsy, had found that Mr. Ernst died of an arrhythmia, or irregular heartbeat, and no clinical trials have ever linked Vioxx to arrhythmias...

But with a combination of charm, carefully scripted PowerPoint presentations and crucial help from Dr. Araneta, Mr. Lanier overcame that hurdle. Mr. Lanier hired a private investigator to find Dr. Araneta, who had moved to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He then persuaded her to return to Texas, where she gave a videotaped deposition in which she said she believed that Mr. Ernst had actually died of a heart attack, despite her autopsy finding...

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