Howard Erichson was quoted in a New York Times article about lawsuits being filed against Volkswagen over its rigged diesel vehicles. In describing a settlement as one possible outcome of the lawsuits, the article brings up as an example a past mass tort case against Merck over one of its painkillers, Vioxx.
In the drive to settle, ethical boundaries may also get pushed, critics say. Under a settlement, lawyers in a mass case against Merck over Vioxx, a painkiller linked to heart attacks, were required to recommend the deal’s terms to all their clients if they wanted any of them to participate.
As a result, lawyers who had clients who might have fared better financially by going to trial had to convince them that the settlement was in their interest, said Howard M. Erichson, a professor at the Fordham University School of Law. Otherwise, he said, the lawyers could no longer represent those clients.
“They essentially had to fire a client,” Mr. Erichson said. Lawyers involved in the Vioxx case said that legal ethicists reviewed the provision and approved it.