Mardi Gras is over, and the college kids on spring break have left New Orleans. But the Big Easy can rest assured: The Vioxx bar has taken their place.

Judicial Panel on Multi-district Litigation sent pending product liability litigation involving Merck & Co., Inc.'s Vioxx drug to Judge Eldon Fallon of the Eastern District of Louisiana.

Dozens of lawyers filed into a federal courtroom for a first pre-trial hearing in the federal Vioxx liability case, the start of a legal process expected to be complex, years-long and costly for the painkiller's maker, Merck & Co.

Though it was taken off the market in September, it could be a while before the effects of the drug Vioxx have worn off.

OMAHA, Neb.-Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said federal investigators have made several requests for information from Berkshire subsidiary General Reinsurance Corp. related to an investigation of Glen Allen, Va.- based Reciprocal of America, a malpractice insurer that was seized by Virginia regulators in 2003 and subsequently put into liquidation.

The settlement of the class action lawsuit against DuPont for making the chemical C8 may be a sign of things to come as two other communities across the country have proceeded with lawsuits of their own.

The possibility that Vioxx may once again be offered to patients raises a provocative question: Did Merck & Co. err by pulling its $2.5 billion painkiller off the market?

If Merck puts painkiller Vioxx back on the market after removing it because of safety concerns, it would be an unusual but not unprecedented event.

Over the years, class action lawsuits have netted consumers $13 rebates on computer monitors, coupons for free movie rentals, $30 discounts on cruise vacations, and free boxes of cereal. But the lawyers who spearheaded those cases were the real winners, typically walking away with millions of dollars in fees.

Tommy Tuberville was a struggling Arkansas restaurateur 20 years ago, frying fish and mixing “pond water” at Tubby’s Catfish Inn.