Judge Won’t Accept Merck Documents For Truth

This time, it’s all about the documents. The 179 documents that Defendants attached to their motion to dismiss in the Merck securities class action to be exact (sure would hate to be the clerk working this docket). Anyway, after considering Plaintiffs’ objections to 139 of the documents, Magistrate Judge Tonianne J. Bongiovanni (D. N.J.) came to different conclusions regarding different groups of documents, but the recurring theme throughout (for the exhibits where judicial notice was accepted) was that "this Court will not admit the exhibits for their truth, but rather, for the limited purpose of proving their existence."

For the specifics, check out In re Merck, issued January 20, 2006, at 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2345.

Nugget: "The fact that the SEC forms submitted by Defendants in their Motion to Dismiss are in chart summary form does not dissuade as they were not crafted by a third-party and as Plaintiffs will be permitted to challenge their veracity if they so choose."