The Attorneys and Staff of Sanford Barlow LLP would like to with you and your family a wonderful Holiday Season. For those of you who celebrate Christmas, we encourage you to remember the gift of God in Jesus Christ! Unwrapping this gift takes a lifetime, but lasts an eternity! We send out our heartfelt prayers for all of our friends and clients this season.

A recent article entitled Pooled Analysis of Rofecoxib Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Data: Lessons for Postmarketing Pharmaceutical Safety Surveillance, has attempted to look back at all studies produced following the release of VIOXX (generic name Rofecoxib) to the American consumer, and to determine at which point Merck should have known of the dangerous link between cardiovascular thrombotic events and its use. The study used cumulative pooled analysis of placebo-controlled trials and reports that the was a demonstration of increased risk evinced by December 2000, with statistical significance achieved by June of 2001—or 39 months prior to when it was “voluntarily” removed from the market by Merck. In June of 2001, Rofecoxib was responsible for a measured 35% increase in cardiovascular thrombotic (CVT) events; by April of 2002 there was a 39% increase; by September of 2004 when it was pulled, there was a 43% increase. By September of 2004, investigators had identified 182 CVT adverse events in 7034 patient-years of Rofecoxib users, and only 119 CVT adverse events in 6695 patient-years of placebo users. According the authors, the FDA should probably have halted the sale of VIOXX shortly after it was approved on the market, given the information on hand at the time. This is especially true given the very marginal advantage of VIOXX over the penny-on-the-dollar alternatives available in over the counter medicines. As one author put it, the slight decrease in the risk of gastrointestinal tract bleeding only marginally benefited < 5% of the arthritis pain medication consumers at 50 times the cost—whole significantly increasing the chance of a fatal or serious heart attack. (See Invited Comments following the printed article). The full article is available online or in print. Ross, J. S., Madigan, D., Hill, K. P., Egilman, D. S., Wang, Y., Krumholz, H. M. (2009). Pooled Analysis of Rofecoxib Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Data: Lessons for Postmarket Pharmaceutical Safety Surveillance. Arch Intern Med 169 (Vol. 21): 1976-1985, Nov. 23, 2009.

In the aftermath of the housing crisis, many pundits and policy makers have been pointing fingers at Wall Street. While it is fair to fault some actors in America’s financial capital, many of those who helped create the crisis reside in the very same communities in America hardest hit by the financial collapse of the housing market. Many of those individuals are the professionals who make money providing appraisals of the home’s value—an appraisal that serves as the basis for the lending institutions extension of credit and as an assurance to the home buyer that he or she is getting a home that is worth the purchase price and, if resold, that the purchase price could be recaptured.
Unfortunately, many appraisers across America engaged in negligent appraisals, often times providing inflated values that were relied upon by lenders and borrowers alike. As a result, banks and other lenders approved loans that were not adequately collateralized and buyers borrowed more than they would have if they known the true risk they were taking on. This failure to responsibly appraise property destroyed an important safeguard in out home buying and lending market, propelling many buyers into foreclosure and decimating the mortgage portfolios of many lending institutions both in the primary and secondary market.
At Sanford Barlow LLP, as part of our commitment to Justice and Integrity, we have filed numerous lawsuits against negligent and unethical appraisers who violated their duty to provide realistic and unbiased appraisals. These appraisers did so without regard to the high standards that govern appraiser practice nation-wide.
If you are a victim of inflated appraisals, as either a lending institution or as a home owner who has been forced into foreclosure, contact us for a free evaluation of your case—and let our experts work for you!

The attorneys and staff of Sanford Barlow LLP want to join the legal community in expressing their condolences and heartfelt prayers to the family of John O’Quinn following his untimely death. John O’Quinn was a voice for many who lacked the prestige or finances to challenge big corporations, and he took the responsibility seriously. Shelly Sanford, a founding partner at Sanford Barlow LLP, knew John well: “My 7 years working with John are some of the most memorable of my career because he was a brilliant and gifted trial lawyer,” Sanford said. “John was truly a trial lawyer who cared about justice for the injured and would stand toe-to-toe with big business to make them address safety issues in their products.” We would like to join our hearts with the many, many others who knew John, and extend our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to his family and close friends. We would also like to send out our thoughts and prayers to the family and friends of Johny Cutliff, a mild and friendly man who was well regarded by all who knew him.

Sanford Barlow LLP is proud to announce that we have signed a contract for Gold Level Partnership with the National MS Society for the 2010 BP MS150 bicycle ride from Houston, Texas, to Austin, Texas on April 17th-18th. “We support the MS Society and all of its goals,” said Shelly Sanford, partner in Sanford Barlow LLP and team captain. “I believe our team will represent well on the ride and in contributions for this great cause.” Sanford Barlow LLP is a Houston-based Law Firm that handles serious personal injury and death cases as well as cases involving economic injuries to business or governmental entities. Team Sanford Barlow LLP currently has 20 members and expects to grow stronger in number in years to come. The training schedule for Team Sanford Barlow LLP will be posted on the Sanford Barlow LLP Blog at  http://sanfordbarlow.com/blog.

Team co-captain, M. Angela Hill, will also post the training schedule at www.pedalclan.com. Sanford Barlow LLP will
provide updates and a link for donations to the National MS Society for the ride.  The Houston to Austin BP MS150 is an annual bicycle ride with some 14,000 participants. For more information on the ride please go to www.JoinTheMovementLonestar.org. For more information on Sanford Barlow LLP please go to www.sanfordbarlow.com.

WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The Obama administration sided with investors Monday in a U.S. Supreme Court case that examines whether shareholders of Merck & Co. ( MRK) waited too long to file securities lawsuits alleging the drug maker misrepresented the safety of painkiller drug Vioxx, which it removed from the market in 2004.

U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the federal government’s lawyer at the Supreme Court, argued in a friend-of-the court brief that the lawsuits weren’t filed too late.

The brief is the latest sign that the solicitor general’s office under the Obama administration is taking a friendlier approach to investor lawsuits. In June, the office filed a legal brief supporting investors in an important high- court dispute on mutual-fund fees.

The Bush administration had sided against investors in several Supreme Court cases.

Investors are seeking billions of dollars in damages from Merck. They filed the first of several securities lawsuits against the Whitehouse Station, NJ- based drug maker in November 2003, alleging it misled them by downplaying the significance of clinical-trial results that appeared to show that patients taking Vioxx faced an increased risk of heart attack.

The investors said this alleged deception caused them to pay inflated prices for Merck’s stock.

The central issue before the Supreme Court focuses on when investors should have known that there was a possible Vioxx fraud.

Merck argued that investors should have filed their lawsuits earlier because there was an overwhelming amount of public information available by late-2001 suggesting the possibility that the company made misstatements about the safety of Vioxx.

But Merck also has said it properly informed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the scientific community about Vioxx-related data as it emerged.

A loss for Merck could eliminate one line of defense that companies use to fend off shareholder lawsuits.

The case will be argued on Nov. 30, with a decision expected by the end of June.

-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222; brent.kendall@ dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires
10-26-091752ET
Copyright (c) 2009 Dow Jones & Company, Inc

Beginning in 2008, and so far in 2009, we have witnessed the near collapse of the housing market in the United States. Millions of families have, or will, suffer forecloser on their homes whose values are less than the mortgage they hold on that property. The buyers are but one party to the purchase of a home that has been damaged by overzealous players, one of which is the appraiser who can owe a duty to both mortgagee and mortgagor. The duty of an appraiser in Texas mirrors the duty of an architect, physician, or accountant. See Fed. Sav. & Loan Ins. Ass’n v. FDIC, 955 F.2d 261, 265 (5th Cir. 1992). Arguably, an appraiser’s professional work is relied upon by the homeowner because it serves as the basis for the buyer’s decision to buy the home at the sale price. Further, negligent appraisal can cause a buyer to borrow more money than they should because they are unaware of the risk they are taking. Negligently inflated home appraisals can give rise to causes of action that include negligent misrepresentation; professional malpractice; fraud; breach of contract; and DTPA claims.
Timing is an important factor in any case, as the Statute of Limitations (SOL) is an important concern. While some states allow for 3, 4, or 6 year statute of limitations on professional malpractice, Texas has a two year SOL. In most cases, the discovery exception will be required to toll the SOL. Litigating appraisal of a home years after the appraisal was made also requires special expertise in assigning an appraisal at a remote time in the past. The value of a home might rise (in normal economic times) or decrease over time (as has been seen in the last year), but it is the value of the home at the time of the appraisal that is key to a finding of an inflated appraisal.