Fosamax attorney may be sanctioned

The Associated Press//July 9, 2010//

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An attorney who helped win a $8 million jury verdict against Merck over its osteoporosis drug Fosamax now faces possible sanctions by the trial judge.

During the trial, U.S. District Court Judge John F. Keenan blasted the attorney, Gary Douglas, calling his closing “the most outrageous” closing he has heard in his 80-year life, and suggesting he would sanction the lawyer.

On Wednesday, Keenan ordered Douglas of Douglas & London in New York City to show cause on Aug. 10 as to why he should not be sanctioned and referred to the disciplinary committee.

In his written order, Keenan said that in addition to making inappropriate remarks, urging the jury to award punitive damages that had already been disallowed, and mischaracterizing Merck’s adverse event reports, Douglas “repeatedly disparage[ed] defense witnesses and generally act[ed] rudely to defense counsel in a manner that cannot be fully captured in the record: using sarcasm, gestures, imitations, mockery, singing, derogatory tones, laughing, and admittedly ‘fooling around’ and ‘making fun.’

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