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Monday, March 18, 2024

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Long Island cities lose challenge to N.Y. law that killed their opioid lawsuits

By Daniel Fisher |
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (Legal Newsline) - A collection of Long Island cities that challenged a New York law ending their separate lawsuits against the opioid industry vowed to appeal a federal judge’s decision dismissing their case, saying they have been denied their share of the multibillion-dollar opioid settlement pot.

Opioids

Opioid defendant wants Motley Rice disqualified, citing government work

By Daniel Fisher |
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Optum Rx has moved to disqualify the prominent law firm Motley Rice from representing plaintiffs in pivotal upcoming opioid trials, saying Ohio ethics rules prevent the lawyers from using information they learned working as “special assistant attorneys general” for states in private litigation.

Opioids

Ethics board takes on the millions given to New Mexico's opioid lawyers

By Daniel Fisher |
SANTA FE, N.M. (Legal Newsline) - Responding to inquiries sparked by a Legal Newsline investigation, the New Mexico State Ethics Commission said a $148 million contingency fee paid to private lawyers out of an opioid settlement was subject to a procurement law governing all expenditures by state agencies.

Opioids

Court trims the federal government's opioid lawsuit against Amerisource Bergen

By Daniel Fisher |
PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - A federal judge allowed the government’s lawsuit against drug distributor Amerisource Bergen to proceed, but cut down the potential size of the government’s claims by ruling Amerisource could only be ordered to pay fines over opioids it shipped after Congress amended the Controlled Substances Act in 2018.

Opioids

Opioid judge: 'No reasonable observer' could think special master biased after 'reply all' incident

By Daniel Fisher |
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing thousands of municipal lawsuits against the opioid industry criticized pharmacy benefit managers who sought to disqualify his special master, saying their bias claims were unreasonable and based upon a privileged email they should have destroyed instead of citing it in a public court filing.

Opioids

Opioid plaintiffs fight bias charge against case's special master who hit 'reply all' on email

By Daniel Fisher |
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers representing thousands of government plaintiffs in opioid litigation opposed a request by pharmacy benefit managers to disqualify the special master overseeing their cases, saying an email the PBMs cite as evidence of bias was protected by judicial privilege and merely reflects the judge’s personal thoughts anyway.

Opioids

Ohio Supreme Court to say if public nuisance applies to opioids

By Daniel Fisher |
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - The federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Ohio Supreme Court to answer the central question behind a $650 million federal court judgment against Walgreens, CVS and Walmart over opioid claims: Does Ohio law allow “public nuisance” lawsuits based on the sale of legal products?

Opioids

New Mexico's fee for opioid lawyers: At least $1,500 per addict

By Daniel Fisher |
SANTA FE, N.M. (Legal Newsline) - New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez quickly touted his state’s settlement of opioid claims against Walmart, CVS, Johnson & Johnson and other companies last year with a press release, but so far he's not talking about this year's $500 million settlement with Walgreens.

Opioids

New Mexico pays its opioid lawyers $150 million, almost triple national rate

By Daniel Fisher |
SANTA FE, N.M. (Legal Newsline) - New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez is paying outside lawyers more than $150 million out of a $453 million opioid settlement with Walgreens, nearly triple the rate other states paid their lawyers to negotiate agreements with major pharmacy chains.

Opioids

Private lawyers pocket $73 million in Florida's opioid case; Is it against state law?

By Daniel Fisher |
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody says she found a way to pay private lawyers tens of millions of dollars for negotiating opioid settlements without triggering the state’s $50 million cap on contingency fees, though a state legal reform group disagrees.

Opioids

Opioid judge slams 'insulting' suggestion he's pressuring defendants to settle

By Daniel Fisher |
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The federal judge who has presided over more than $26 billion in opioid settlements and once threatened companies with bankruptcy if they tried to fight the claims against them in court attacked lawyers for a pharmacy benefit manager for suggesting he is trying to coerce a new class of defendants into settling.

Opioids

Amerisource Bergen attacks 'profoundly flawed' DOJ opioid lawsuit

By Daniel Fisher |
PHILADELPHIA (Legal Newsline) - Amerisource Bergen asked a federal judge to dismiss a Justice Department lawsuit accusing it of filling hundreds of thousands of suspicious opioid orders, saying the government is seeking billions of dollars in fines for violating “hopelessly vague” rules it refuses to identify with any specificity.

Opioids

DOJ's opioid lawsuit not enough to reopen Amerisource Bergen case

By Daniel Fisher |
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - The fact the Justice Department sued Amerisource Bergen for allegedly fueling the opioid crisis isn’t enough to reopen a shareholder derivative lawsuit seeking money from the company’s officers and directors, a Delaware court ruled.

Opioids

Family of opioid overdose victim can't sue as victims of a crime

By Daniel Fisher |
ATLANTA (Legal Newsline) - The relatives of a woman who died of an opioid overdose can’t take advantage of a Georgia law that extends the statute of limitations for torts in connection with a crime, an appeals court ruled, dismissing a lawsuit against a doctor who was later convicted of illegal prescribing.

Opioids

Walmart seeks end to 'smorgasbord' securities suit over opioid disclosures

By Daniel Fisher |
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Walmart has again asked a federal judge in Delaware to dismiss a securities class action claiming it misled investors about opioid litigation, saying an amended complaint is even worse than the original.

Opioids

Cities, counties swim against tide pulling them toward state opioid settlements

By Daniel Fisher |
A handful of municipalities are fighting efforts to force them to sign on to opioid settlements negotiated by state attorneys general and private lawyers, as the nation's largest pharmacy chains have offered $13.8 billion to resolve litigation.

Opioids

Lead lawyers in opioid MDL make case for millions in fees from colleagues in state court

By Daniel Fisher |
CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) - Plaintiff lawyers leading federal opioid litigation dismissed as premature a challenge by their rivals in state court to a judge’s order that could steer hundreds of millions, or even billions of dollars in fees their way.

Opioids

Opioid lawyers seek $174 million bond as pharmacies appeal Polster's verdict

By Daniel Fisher |
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Lawyers representing two Ohio counties that won $651 million in damages from pharmacies they accused of causing the opioid epidemic have asked the judge who handed down that verdict to order them to post a $174 million bond while they pursue their appeals.