Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal (Vioxx ‘Trial in a Box’ Cuts Cost of Filing Suit) discusses how plaintiff’s lawyers pursuing Vioxx claims against pharmaceutical manufacturer Merck & Co. are using a pre-packaged set of materials to make it easier to sue the giant drug maker.  The materials are free but come with strings attached.  Plaintiff’s using the canned complaints will owe it’s authors a contingency fee of 3-6% if they are successful in recovering money from Merck through settlement or at trial. 

     A well organized plaintiff’s bar that makes such cookie-cutter packages freely available and shares strategies and information is one of the hidden costs associated with mass litigation.  It provides a compelling reason for managing legal risks wisely and staying out of the plaintiff bar’s sites.

     For more information about how to manage business legal risk more effectively see The Business Guide to Legal Literacy: What Every Manager Should Know About the Law.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 18th, 2006 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Business Blind Spots, Compliance, Costs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.