The second personal injury Vioxx lawsuit to go to trial started on Wednesday in New Jersey-just one month after a Texas jury found Merck and Co. liable for the death of a man taking Vioxx and awarded his widow $253.5 million.

The plaintiff, 60-year-old postal worker, Vietnam veteran, Frederick “Mike” Humeston, claims that Vioxx caused his heart attack in September 2001, just two months after his doctor prescribed him Vioxx to relieve pain from a war injury.

Humeston maintains that long before Vioxx was first marketed in the United States, Merck knew that the drug carried cardiovascular risks.

The case is one of about 2,400 Vioxx lawsuits pending in New Jersey state court against Merck, which is based in Whitehouse Station, N.J.

Merck pulled Vioxx from the market in September 2004 after a study found that it increases a patients’ risk of heart attack and stroke after 18 months of use.

More than 4,000 Vioxx lawsuits have been filed against Merck.

(via SeegerWeiss LLP)