BREAKING Sad News: Plaintiff In First Fosamax® Femur Bellwether Suffers Heart Attack; Judge Higgins Declares Mistrial

We send our genuine wishes for a speedy and complete recovery to Mrs. Su and her family -- but it is clear that she won't be able to testify at her trial, so a mistrial is the only option.

This is also bad news for Merck, as it spent considerable money and energy in preparing for this case. The trial was nearly half over, as well. Again -- Mrs. Su's health is the overriding concern, here. [I do think we are the first blog to report this, as a breaking-story, this morning (background on the case, here and here).]

I'll look for additional background, here, but this is from the free portion of the subscription only Law 360 outlet:

. . . .Superior Court Judge Carol E. Higbee took the bench to declare a mistrial after attorneys informed her that plaintiff Christina Su had suffered a heart attack Sunday night, leaving her in no condition to continue with the trial. Su’s case was the first of more than 2,000 pending cases in New Jersey state court. . . .

This means another case will need to be selected -- and added to the subsequent calendar of three bellwethers, total, in New Jersey state court. Most likely, the next trial there will be the second one in order on the docket. A new bellwether case will be added to the end of that docket.

Before that one, though, the first federal court Fosamax^® femur bellwether trial will get underway in Newark's US District courthouse before the very able Judge Joel Pisano on April 8, 2013 -- Glynn v. Merck. In the aggregate, combining femur and ONJ case totals, there are over 7,800 cases pending, now. We will keep you informed.