File this under ‘How dare you?’ The drugmaker contends US District Court Judge Eldon Fallon, who oversees the federal Vioxx litigation, usurped a jury’s job when he recently proposed a $1.6 million award to retired FBI agent Gerald Barnett to replace the $51 million jury judgment he had found excessive, the Associated Press reports.

Jurors in Barnett’s case decided he should get $50 million to compensate him for injuries from a 2002 heart attack and $1 million in punitive damages against Merck. Fallon ruled the compensatory damages were unreasonable, since Barnett was retired and had made a good recovery. As an alternative to a retrial on damages, Barnett asked the judge to suggest a more reasonable award, and accepted Fallon’s recommendation: $1 million in punitive damages, $600,000 in compensatory damages.

Merck contends that by doing so, Fallon did what a jury should have done. And in court documents, Merck argues: “Because there is no way to determine what damages the jury concluded Mr. Barnett suffered, let alone what compensation it awarded for each component of his damages, there is no way to lop off - or even calculate - the `excessive’ part of the jury’s award.”

On its face, $1.6 million would seem like a good deal instead of $51 million. But we understand: it’s the principle. Besides, a loss is still a loss. And why miss a chance to put the judge in his place? Meanwhile, Fallon also says he may start trying stroke cases.