Most securities litigators can spot a prototypical opt-out fact pattern from a mile away:

1. Good liability
2. Large damages
3. Solvent defendant(s)
4. Motion to dismiss denied
5. Settlement and/or class certification decision

We recently posted about a group of opt-out cases that spawned from just such a fact pattern, with the growing number opt-out cases filed in the Tyco litigation.

We also have spilled some ink about a non-standard opt-out fact pattern, in the Vivendi Universal litigation, where international institutional investors have filed individual or group actions after having been excluded from the class as a result of Judge Holwell's class certification decision.

Well, we have a new breed of opt-out cases to discuss - the Merck opt outs.

Readers may recall that in April 2007, Judge Chesler granted the motions to dismiss with prejudice and dismissed the securities class action pending against Merck related to Merck's Vioxx troubles.

According to Merck's most recent 10-Q, a total of seven opt-out cases have been filed against the company, but here's the first kicker, five of the seven were filed after the class action had already been dismissed by Judge Chesler. As an aside, according to my research, a total of eight opt-out cases have been filed and six were filed after Judge Chesler dismissed the securities class action.

Only two, an October 2005 complaint filed in the District of New Jersey by Stichting Pensioenfonds ABP (a Dutch pension fund) and an August 2005 complaint filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on behalf of the Oregon Public Employee Retirement Fund, were filed before the motion to dismiss was granted.

As a side note, the Oregon state case has been set for trial in October 2008, though it would not make our list of securities class action trials as it is an individual complaint, and not a class action.

The six post-motion to dismiss complaints were filed on behalf of various international institutional investors, and contain a similar cast of characters to the opt-outs filed in the Vivendi litigation, though with a few twists on the attorneys or groups of plaintiffs involved in a given case. The post-motion to dismiss opt-out plaintiffs and their counsel are:

Grant & Eisenhofer

Norges Bank

Grant & Eisenhofer and Diaz, Reus, Rolff & Targ

Deka FundMaster Investmentgesellschaft mbH
Deka International (Ireland) Limited
Deka International S.A. Luxemburg
Deka Investment GmbH
Frankfurter Service Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
International Fund Management S.A. Luxemburg
Internationale Fonds Service AG
Internationale Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
Metzler Investment GmbH
Munich Ergo Asset Management GmbH

Grant & Eisenhofer, Motley Rice LLC and Sturman LLC

Deutsche Asset Management Investmentgesellschaft mbH
DWS (Austria) Investmentgesellschaft mbH
DWS Investment GmbH
Erste-Sparinvest Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
Landesbank Berlin Investment GmbH
Liechtensteinische Landesbank Aktiengesellschaft
LRI Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz International S.A.
Oppenheim Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
Oppenheim Pramerica Asset Management S.à r.l.
Pioneer Investments Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
Union Asset Management Holding AG
WIENER STÄDTISCHE Versicherung AG Vienna Insurance Group

Grant & Eisenhofer and Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler

AFA Livförsäkringsaktiebolag
AFA Sjukförsäkringsaktiebolag on its own behalf and on behalf of Kollektivavtalsstiftelsen
Trygghetsfonden TSL
AFA Trygghetsförsäkringsaktiebolag
Alecta pensionsförsäkring, ömsesidigt
AMF Pension Fondförvaltning AB
Arbetsmarknadsförsäkringar Pensionsförsäkringsaktiebolag
Danske Invest Administration A/S
Fjärde AP-Fonden
Gamla Livförsäkringsaktiebolaget SEB Trygg Liv
SEB Asset Management S.A.
Sjunde APFonden;
Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB on its own behalf and on behalf of SEB Investment Management AB
Swedbank Robur AB

Schiffrin Barroway Topaz & Kessler

Allianz Global Investors Ireland Limited
Allianz Global Investors Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH
Allianz Global Investors Luxembourg S.A.

As with the Tyco and Vivendi opt-out cases, check back here, as we will be updating the list and tracking these cases as well.