The sometimes icy litigation stream that finds it headwaters in the pain-killer Vioxx loosed a freshet today, when the Third Circuit vacated dismissal of a securities fraud complaint against the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory’s maker, Merck & Co. The 2-1 majority held that public disclosures and speculations didn’t put investors on "storm warnings" notice of an association between taking Vioxx and having a heart attack and, therefore, of the possibility that the market price of Merck stock overstated its true value. The district court thus erred in liquidating the case as untimely under the two year statute of limitations. In re Merck & Co., Inc. Securities, Derivative & ERISA Litig., No. 07-2431 (3d Cir. Sept. 9, 2008).
