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Opioids
Defense lawyers attempt to display due diligence in Washington State trial against opioid drug distributors
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Defense attorneys for three of the country’s top distributors of opioid drugs accused of starting an overdose epidemic in Washington State attempted on Tuesday to show the companies had done everything possible to prevent illegal drug diversion.
Opioids
Trial resumes in case against Washington State opioid distributors accused of causing overdose epidemic
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Trial resumed Monday in a lawsuit filed by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office against three of the country’s top opioid drug distributors, accusing them of causing an overdose epidemic by oversupplying drugs, and operating ineffective anti-diversion programs.
Opioids
Opioid plaintiffs suing Rite Aid can't count on insurance money
DOVER, Del. (Legal Newsline) - Insurance companies don’t have to cover defense costs for Rite Aid against opioid lawsuits by governments seeking economic damages, Delaware’s highest court ruled, rejecting one major source of funding that plaintiffs and defendants alike were counting upon to pay out multibillion-dollar settlements.
Opioids
Washington State opioid trial put on hold for two weeks; state says routine break time
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - A trial in Washington State in which three of the country’s biggest distributors of opioid drugs stand accused of causing an overdose epidemic had been postponed until Jan. 24, but a representative of the Attorney General's office called the pause "routine."
Opioids
Defense attorneys say opioid companies performed due diligence in efforts to prevent drug misuse
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Attorneys defending three of the country’s biggest distributors of opioid drugs tried to undermine the testimony of a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official, while portraying their clients as innocent of causing an overdose epidemic in Washington State.
Opioids
Chaos over 'mountains of fees' for private lawyers mucking up opioid settlements, AGs complain
SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) - A coalition of 11 state attorneys general is accusing cities, counties and their private lawyers of engaging in fee-driven litigation that has interfered with the states’ ability to negotiate global opioid settlements with companies.
Opioids
Pharmacies seek reversal or new opioid trial, saying process `plagued with errors’
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) Walmart, CVS and Walgreens moved for reversal or a new trial over opioid claims, saying the trial that resulted in a historic public nuisance verdict against them was “plagued with errors” including jury instructions “designed to manufacture a verdict” for the plaintiffs.
Opioids
Former DEA officer, now plaintiff expert, says distributors did not stop drug diversions
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - A former officer of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) during testimony on Monday through Wednesday told a courtroom in Seattle three of the country’s biggest distributors of opioid drugs made an insufficient effort to stop recklessly selling the drugs that led to an overdose epidemic.
Opioids
Attorneys in Washington opioid trial spar over testimony of data analyst
Attorneys for the State of Washington and those defending three of the country’s biggest opioid pill distributors sparred this week over figures showing that drug ordering took a big jump around the year 2006.
Opioids
Split opioid trial would be waste of time, Alabama Supreme Court rules
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (Legal Newsline) - The Alabama Supreme Court halted a trial judge’s plan to split trials against opioid manufacturers and distributors into two parts, ruling it would be a waste of judicial resources because jurors would have to hear much of the same evidence twice.
Opioids
Washington opioid trial: State introduces distributor's internal 'pillbillies' memo mocking addicts
Inter-office memos in 2012 issued by officials of AmerisourceBergen, one of three distributors of opioid pills accused of irresponsibly flooding the drug market for profit and causing an overdose epidemic, used humor that some have described as cruel.
Opioids
Washington State opioid trial: Defense says companies showed good faith, state says small group is big harm
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Defense attorneys on Tuesday sought to portray their clients, three of the biggest distributors of opioid drugs in the U.S., as taking appropriate steps in the early 2000s through 2014 to safeguard the public by establishing in-house systems to check suspicious drug orders.
Opioids
Washington State attorneys pound on 'irresponsible' theme in suit against opioid distributors
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Attorneys for the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in their lawsuit against three major opioid drug distributors continued to hammer down on the theme the companies irresponsibly flooded the market with pills, causing an overdose epidemic.
Opioids
Bellwether jury wants pharmacies to pay for opioid mess; Walmart says trial was riddled with mistakes
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - A federal jury has found three of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains liable for causing a public nuisance by filling too many opioid prescriptions in two Ohio counties, reviving a legal theory that was recently rejected in two other closely watched cases.
Opioids
Former DEA official testifies in Washington AG's case against opioid distributors
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - State of Washington officials led by Attorney General Bob Ferguson are pressing their case against prescription opioid drug distributors McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp., saying the companies irresponsibly promoted drugs for profits.
Opioids
'Inflammatory' closing argument should cancel key opioid trial, defendants argue
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - National pharmacy chains called for a mistrial after the lawyer representing two Ohio counties in closing arguments urged jurors to consider the “national ramifications” of their decision and jokingly suggested they “really go after” any member of the panel who refused to find the defendants liable for causing a public nuisance by dispensing opioids.
Opioids
Oklahoma Supreme Court throws out $465M verdict, rejects State's theory of 'public nuisance'
OKLAHOMA CITY (Legal Newsline) - The Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a landmark $465 million public nuisance verdict against Johnson & Johnson over its sale of opioid painkillers, stating in clear terms that public nuisance law can’t be used to sue companies over the sale of legal products.
Opioids
Loss for opioid lawyers seeking 'public nuisance' payout could apply to climate change cases
A California judge who threw out municipal lawsuits against the opioid industry for supposedly causing a public nuisance could have just as well been speaking about a wave of similar lawsuits against the oil and gas industry.
Opioids
One pharmacy settles, others want claims booted in key opioid trial
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Giant Eagle settled multiple opioid lawsuits against it as fellow defendants in a closely watched trial testing novel public-nuisance theories filed motions to dismiss, arguing the plaintiffs failed to prove their case.
Opioids
Judge refuses mistrial in key opioid case despite jury shenanigans
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing a landmark opioid lawsuit against the nation’s largest pharmacy chains refused to declare a mistrial after a juror performed her own research on a topic plaintiff lawyers raised in cross-examination and shared her results with the rest of the jury.