Excerpt from an article in the Dallas Morning News July 11, 2005:
Last week Merck asked state District Judge Ben Hardin to postpone the case for two months because pretrial publicity – primarily stemming from Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s June 30 lawsuit alleging that Merck falsely touted the safety of Vioxx – could have tainted the jury pool.
Judge Hardin said the first step in jury selection would be today, with 100 potential jurors filling out questionnaires. The judge said he would examine their answers to gauge any bias before ruling on the request for a delay.