Aug. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Merck & Co. must pay more than $253 million to the family of a Texas man who died after taking the company's Vioxx painkiller, a jury ruled in the first personal-injury case over the drug to come to trial.

Jurors awarded $24.4 million in actual damages and $229 million in punitive damages to the family of Robert Ernst. Merck will appeal, spokesman Kent Jarrell said. The company's shares fell as much as 6.8 percent.

``This is right, amen,'' said Mark Lanier, lead attorney for widow Carol Ernst.

Merck, based in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, is gearing up to defend itself against thousands of other injury claims by Vioxx users. Next month, the company must defend itself at a trial in Atlantic City, New Jersey, over a former Marine's claims that Vioxx caused his heart attack.

``This first win gives both the plaintiffs and Merck a sense of how the cases may go before other juries,'' said George Fleming, a Houston-based lawyer who won one of the first verdicts against Wyeth over its fen-phen diet drugs. ``Every time the plaintiffs win one of these cases, it puts pressure on the company to settle the whole litigation.''

Shares Fall

Merck has set aside $675 million to fight Vioxx suits and deal with any related liability. Company shares have fallen about 33 percent since the drug was withdrawn in September. Merck's market value plunged by about $30 billion. The drug generated $2.5 billion in sales last year, about 11 percent of Merck's sales.

``Merck & Co. is disappointed,'' the company said in a statement.

The Ernst family's lawyers, led by Lanier, argued that Merck rushed Vioxx to market without proper safety testing to compete with Pfizer Inc.'s Celebrex painkiller. The family, who claimed Ernst developed an irregular heartbeat because of Vioxx, said the company played down the drug's potential for causing heart attacks and strokes.

Merck denied any link between the drug and the death of Ernst, a marathoner who worked as a personal trainer. Company officials testified that Vioxx underwent rigorous testing before it was introduced and showed no links to heart attacks in 58 studies.

Merck officials pulled Vioxx off the market after a later study showed users faced an increased risk of heart attacks and strokes. Further research has raised questions about the risks of all such painkillers, which are classified as Cox-2 inhibitors.

The case is Ernst, et. al. v. Merck & Co. Inc., No. 19961- BH02, District Court of Brazoria County, Texas.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jef Feeley in Angleton, Texas jfeeley@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 19, 2005 14:57 EDT