An interesting piece. The New Orleans lawfirm acting as repository for plaintiff documents in federal Vioxx-related litigation against Merck was hit hard by Katrina. However, it is not the federal documents that are in jeopardy but rather the 125 or so individual Vioxx cases also being managed by the firm, Herman, Herman, Katz & Cotlar.

Documents relating to those cases were recieved a thorough soaking in the storm and attorneys have been working to reclaim the files and locate many formerly local plaintiffs who have been scattered nationwide in the Katrina's aftermath. In part, HHKC has turned to P.I.s in order to track down their clients, all in the interest of meeting a looming disclosure deadline for Mersk's defense counsel...

Via the PostGazette.com:

...The law firm is operating with half of its 65-person staff since it returned to temporary offices in the Big Easy in early January. Several employees lost everything, including Leonard Davis, a partner at the firm, and his paralegal. "We're having a hell of a time," says partner Russ Herman. "We've got medical records destroyed at three hospitals that don't exist anymore"...

...Katrina has caused other serious problems for the 4,350 federal cases consolidated under U.S. District Court Judge Eldon E. Fallon in New Orleans. The first federal Vioxx trial was relocated to Houston after the hurricane, and ended in a mistrial in December. The retrial started in New Orleans on Feb. 6...

...A week after the storm, Herman staffers returned to the damaged office and pulled out essential files -- even those that were yellowed and moldy, Mr. Davis says. "We pick ourselves up and we move on and keep doing what we know how to do," he says. Mr. Davis recounts a humbling moment when he called Judge Fallon to tell him: "Judge, I'm not going to be able to file that brief today. I don't even have a stapler." Mr. Davis says he and Judge Fallon laughed about the predicament.

Read the full article here. The story originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was authored by Heather Won Tesorier.

-- MDT