Ok, here's the deal.

I need to change the color fill of a merged cell (consisting of the first
cells of four adjacent rows merged together) based on the current contents of
any other cell on those four rows.

For example, A1:A4 is the merged cell. B1:B4 are four separate cells, C1:C4
are four separate cells, D1:D4 are four separate cells, etc., etc. The fill
color and text contents of A1:A4 needs to change (pass/fail, green/red)
depending on the content of ANY of the cells in the range B1:D4. If any of
the cells in the range B1:D4 is marked "failed," then the merged cell A1:A4
needs to be marked as "failed," too.

Can anyone help me with some sample code?