LWITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK 

IN RE: 

i MASTER FlLE 

FOSAMAX PRODUCTS LlABlLlTY LITIGATION ! i 1:06-MD.1789 (JFK) 

This Docutneni Relaies To All Actions 

~....~~~.....~~~....~~~....~~~.....~......~~~.....~~~......, 1' i..t-:,- 4;. , f<,L tt. ...- ~ -- 

CASE MANAGEMENT ORDER NO. 13 ; : 2 ::j: j-ly+. . 

(Order Regarding Document Production Format and ~ost-~hari&::-~~-z:r~------- .. 

1. Order Applicable to All Cases in MDL Proceedings. The document 

production protocol set forth in this Order shall apply to the production by Defendant 

Merck & Co., Inc. ("Merck") of documents originally existing in hard-copy form and. to 

the extent expressly provided herein, to documents originally existing in electronic form, 

in response to discovery requests propounded by the Plaintiffs Steering Committee 

("PSC"). as well as to Plaintiffs' medical records as obtained from non-parties. This 

Order shall apply to, and is binding on all parties and their counsel in, all cases currently 

pending in the above-captioned MDL No. 1789 and to all related actions that have been 

or will be originally filed in, transferred to, or removed to this Court and assigned thereto 

(collectively, "the MDL proceedings") 

2. Production Format. All Merck documents that originally existed in either 

hard-copy or native electronic form that are produced in these proceedings shall be 

produced as single-page "TIFFS" utilizing Group 4 compression. For documents that 

originally existed in hard copy form, Merck will produce TlFF images and searchable 

text files of those images. For documents that originally existed in electronic form_ 

Merck will produce TlFF images, searchable text files, and objective coding to include 

Case 1:07-cv-03459-JFK Document 15 Filed 11/14/2007 Page 1 of 4
the following fields (or as many of such fields as are available with respect to a particular 

document): To (recipient), From (author), CC, Main Date, Title, Document Type. 

Custodian, Beginning Bates number, Ending Bates number, Attachment Range 

Beginning Bates number. and Attachment Range Ending Rates number. 

Merck shall produce a "load file'' to accompany the TIFF images, which load file 

shall include information about where each document begins and ends to facilitate the use 

of the produced images through a document management or litigation support database 

system. The parties shall meet and confer to the extent reasonably necessary to facilitate 

the import and use of the produced materials with commercially available document 

management or litigation support software such as Summation or Concordance in 

electronic image form in the manner provided herein. 

Documents that present imaging or formatting problems shall be promptly 

identified and the parties shall meet and confer to attempt to resolve the problem. In 

addition, the parties shall meet and confer as necessary to agree on the form of any 

production of electronic documents other than e-mails (and any associated attachments), 

word processing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and imaged documents (in any 

format). 

3. Document Unitization. Each page of a document shall be scanned or 

electronically saved into an image. If a document is more than one page, the unitization 

of'the document and any attachments and/or affixed notes shall be maintained as it 

existed in the original when creating the image file. 

Case 1:07-cv-03459-JFK Document 15 Filed 11/14/2007 Page 2 of 4
4. - Cost Allocation. 

a. For documents that originally existed in hard-copy form, Merck agrees to 

produce up to 1.5 million pages of such images and searchable text files 

(including those already produced) without charge to the PSC. Merck 

reserves the right to revisit the question of cost sharing with respect to 

hard-copy documents in the event the image count exceeds 1.5 million 

pages. In reaching this agreement, the parties understand that the PSC 

expressIy relies upon the opinion of Merck's counseI that the volume of 

the hard copy documents responsive to the PSC's First Master Request for 

Production of Documents is not expected to exceed 1.5 million pages. 

b. For documents that originally existed in electronic form, as more fully 

discussed in paragraph 2. above, Merck will produce those documents 

without charge to the PSC, except for the media costs discussed in 

paragraph 3.c, below. 

c. The PSC shall reimburse Merck the reasonable and actual costs of the 

production media on which the TIFF images are produced, as well as the 

reasonable and actual costs of making duplicates of other related 

responsive materials (e.g., videotapes. DVDs, CDs, color/oversized 

copies, etc.). 

5. Provision of Medical Records to Plaintiffs. Subject to the payment 

provisions set forth below. Defendant shall ensure that its outside medical records 

collection vendor, MRC, makes available to the several individual Plaintiffs' 

counsel via a secure web portal maintained by the vendor any and all medical 

Case 1:07-cv-03459-JFK Document 15 Filed 11/14/2007 Page 3 of 4
records collected by or on behalf of Merck. Each page of such records shall be 

uniquely identified by the vendor. Plaintiffs counsel in a specific case may 

access that web site to obtain copies of the client's records, and Plaintiffs counsel 

shall pay MRC the costs as set forth in the cost schedule at 

https://~w.rnrcrecords.comiClicntslFosI,itlPricin~.pdf (usemame:fosoc; 

pasword: DFjtl84#) in order to view, print, andlor obtain copies of any of those 

records. 

All such paqments shall be made by Plaintiffs directly to MRC, and Plaintiffs 

shall have no right to recover or set-off any costs they incurred in independently 

obtaining copies of their medical records from sources other than MRC. 

SO ORDERED. 

Dated: New York, New York 

November d: 2007 

/ JOHN F. KEENAN 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE 

Case 1:07-cv-03459-JFK Document 15 Filed 11/14/2007 Page 4 of 4