Some plaintiff lawyers involved in Merck & Co.’s $4.85 billion Vioxx settlement were given more in fees by a judge after they objected to their original awards, court papers show. U.S. District Judge Eldon Fallon in New Orleans, who is overseeing the remaining litigation over Merck’s withdrawn painkiller, yesterday awarded at least $3 million to attorneys who had complained that colleagues were hogging the lion’s share of more than $315 million in fees spawned by the accord. “Although this allocation process seems tedious and time- consuming, the court finds the process was necessary to achieve a reasoned and appropriate result,” Fallon said in his 132-page ruling.
