The American Lawyer’s “Big Suits” Features Coverage of $688 Million Recovery in Merck and Schering-Plough Litigation

April 2013

The American Lawyer's "Big Suits" section featured coverage of the recent $688 Million combined settlement in the coordinated securities class actions: In re Schering-Plough Corporation/ENHANCE Securities Litigation, which settled for $473 million; and In re Merck & Co., Inc. Vytorin/Zetia Securities Litigation, which settled for $215 million. BLB&G attorneys who prosecuted the two cases, including firm partners Max Berger and Salvatore Graziano, as well as associates Laura Gundersheim and Adam Wierzbowski, were also featured.

Merck agreed to pay the combined $688 million to settle the two cases, which arose from allegations that it concealed material information and made false and misleading statements relating to its multi-billion dollar blockbuster drugs Vytorin and Zetia.  The combined settlement is the second largest securities class action settlement in the Third Circuit, among the top 25 securities class action settlements of all time, and among the ten largest recoveries in a securities class action not involving a restatement.

The settlements were reached only after the Court granted Plaintiffs' motions for class certification and denied Defendants' motions for summary judgment, and the Third Circuit denied Defendants' Rule 23(f) appeals of the District Court's decisions granting class certification, and just a few weeks before trial was scheduled to commence.