The Five Dumbest Things on Wall Street This Week

5. Offensive Defense

Merck's (MRK) legal defense may have gotten a little too vigorous for its own good.

On Friday, a jury in Rio Grande City, Texas, found the company liable for the death of a 71-year-old man who had a fatal heart attack within a month of taking Vioxx, Merck's now infamous painkiller. Merck pulled Vioxx on Sept. 30, 2004, after research established a heart attack link, spurring the filing of more than 10,000 lawsuits. The $32 million award marked Merck's third loss in six Vioxx trials.

In closing statements, The Associated Press reports, Merck lawyer Richard Josephson reviewed the victim's history of heart disease, beginning with a quadruple bypass in 1989. He also noted the victim's smoking habit.

"He had every single risk factor that you can have," Josephson said of the late Leonel Garza. "The idea that Mr. Garza was in good health and only had a 1% chance of having a heart attack is science fiction."

Then, according to the AP, Josephson hammered home his point. "You'll see that Mr. Garza's time was up," he blathered to jurors.

The way things are going in the Vioxx case, we'll soon be saying the same of Merck.

Dumb-o-Meter score: 80. Of course, Merck has never engaged in any science fiction itself.

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