Opioids News
Opioids
After $80B in settlements, Ohio's top court just rejected the central premise of opioid lawsuits
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - The Ohio Supreme Court rejected the central premise of lawsuits that have produced some $80 billion in settlements -- and billions of dollars in fees for private attorneys -- ruling the state’s product-liability law bars allegations that legal products created a public nuisance.
Opioids
Morgan & Morgan challenges where opioid fee fight was filed
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - One of the nation's most prominent personal injury firms says a lawsuit against it over the massive fees gained in opioid litigation doesn't belong in federal court.
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Opioids
Massive bankruptcy plan to end OxyContin lawsuits rejected by U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - A split U.S. Supreme Court has invalidated the bankruptcy plan of OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma, which hoped to resolve crushing opioid litigation with a multibillion-dollar plan funded partly by former owners the Sackler family.
Opioids
Not bad for government work: Opioid lawyers average almost $700 per hour
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Private lawyers working for state and municipal governments will be paid almost $700 an hour for their work in negotiating some $26 billion in settlements with the opioid industry.
Opioids
Tort reform group slams 'referral fee' for W. Va. opioid lawyer, hopes lawmakers will investigate
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - A West Virginia tort reform organization is calling on lawmakers to investigate $141 million in fees being distributed to private lawyers involved in government opioid lawsuits after one attorney sued to collect referral fees for connecting lawyers with municipal officials.
Opioids
Opioid lawyer fee fight breaks into open in West Virginia
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (Legal Newsline) - A West Virginia lawyer has sued prominent national firm Morgan & Morgan, claiming he was shortchanged out of $1.6 million in fees stemming from a $940 million opioid settlement.
Opioids
Government's opioid blame-game with Walmart takes huge hit
WILMINGTON, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Walmart recently scored a big win in a lawsuit brought by the federal government that attempts to blame the retail giant for the nation's addiction crisis.
Opioids
Delaware court revives opioid lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen directors
DOVER, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Delaware’s highest court revived a derivative lawsuit against the officers and directors of AmerisourceBergen, saying there was plenty of evidence to support a claim they either fostered “a culture of non-compliance” or ignored “a tidal wave of red flags” suggesting it was distributing millions of suspicious orders for opioid pills.
Opioids
Long Island cities lose challenge to N.Y. law that killed their opioid lawsuits
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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?
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
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
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.