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Opioids
Judge orders pharmacy chains to pay $651 million for opioid `abatement’
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The judge overseeing federal multidistrict litigation against the opioid industry ordered Walgreens, Walmart and CVS to pay $651 million to fund what he called an “abatement” plan to reduce the level of opioid addiction and overdose deaths in two Ohio counties.
Opioids
'Worst-case scenario': Group trusted to handle public opioid money rejects transparency requests
COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - An Ohio nonprofit has sued for access to the meetings and records of OneOhio Recovery Foundation, saying the state-established organization is attempting to distribute more than $400 million in opioid settlement money without legally required public oversight.
Opioids
COVID causes mistrial in Georgia opioid lawsuit against distributors
Just three days after it started, a trial in Georgia accusing three distributors of oversupplying prescription opioid pills and recklessly causing public harm was shut down because of an outbreak of the COVID virus in the courtroom.
Opioids
Former DEA investigator calls opioid distributor anti-diversion programs 'fatally flawed' in Georgia trial
BRUNSWICK, GA (Legal Newsline) - Former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) investigator James Rafalski told a courtroom in Georgia that the in-house anti-drug diversion programs of opioid distributors were “fatally flawed” in that they failed to report suspicious orders.
Opioids
Trial opens in Georgia with private citizens taking aim at opioid distributors; McKesson says it complied with law
BRUNSWICK, GA (Legal Newsline) - Trial began Tuesday in a case accusing opioid drug distributors McKesson and Cardinal Health of recklessly flooding the state with pills, and for the first time, private citizens are the plaintiffs instead of a state or local government.
Opioids
Walmart: SCOTUS decision destroys DOJ's opioid lawsuit
Walmart and the Justice Department disagreed on the impact of a U.S. Supreme Court decision requiring prosecutors to prove doctors “knowingly” wrote invalid opioid prescriptions, with Walmart arguing the ruling obliterated the government’s civil lawsuit accusing it of failing to block millions of illegal opioid prescriptions, while Justice saying the decision bolstered its case.
Opioids
Latest opioid ruling puts MDL judge further out of step on public nuisance
A federal judge soundly rejected the “public nuisance” theory behind most opioid litigation, further isolating the judge in charge of thousands of similar lawsuits who has consistently ruled in favor of plaintiffs on this very question.
Opioids
After plaintiff lawyers rebel, opioid judge backpedals on fees
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - The federal judge in charge of multidistrict opioid litigation walked back an order that set off a rebellion among plaintiff lawyers who complained it would interfere with their cases in state court and steer billions of dollars in fees to a small group of attorneys who dominate the federal litigation.
Opioids
Fee Fight: Opioid lawyers challenge order directing money to colleagues
CINCINNATI (Legal Newsline) - Private lawyers representing hundreds of cities and counties including Harris County, Texas, home to Houston, have asked a federal appeals court to block a judge’s order steering potentially billions of dollars in fees from opioid settlements to a small group of lawyers in charge of federal multidistrict litigation.
Opioids
Judge who wanted to 'do something' about opioid crisis now deciding who pays
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - A two-week bench trial to determine how much three national pharmacy chains must pay to solve a “public nuisance” of opioid abuse in two Ohio counties began with a fundamental dispute over what that nuisance is.
Opioids
Judge's Facebook comments force him off opioid case
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (Legal Newsline) - A Tennessee judge who ordered harsh sanctions against an opioid manufacturer and later boasted about it on Facebook should have recused himself for the appearance of bias, an appeals court ruled, reversing the sanctions and ordering the judge off the case.
Opioids
Washington State to receive a half-billion from opioid drug producers in trial settlement
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - Three weeks after closing arguments were postponed until July at the request of lawyers for defendants, three opioid drug producing companies accused of causing an epidemic agreed on May 3 to settle with Washington State for $518 million.
Opioids
$50 million cap stares at AG Moody's hired guns as private lawyers reap opioid windfall
Florida began the trial in its opioid lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain yesterday, with outside attorneys representing the state in what could be an expensive, weeks-long courtroom ordeal.
Opioids
Florida jury can place blame on State, not Walgreens, for opioid crisis
DADE CITY, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - A Florida jury will hear evidence that the state’s attorney general once blamed weak regulatory oversight and the lack of a centralized prescription database for the opioid crisis, which it now blames on the Walgreens pharmacy chain.
Opioids
Private lawyers take $84 million from Florida opioid settlements; Some are campaign contributors to AG Moody
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Legal Newsline) - Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced $860 million in opioid settlements with CVS and three other companies, leaving only Walgreens as a defendant in a trial scheduled to begin in state court April 4.
Opioids
Addiction crisis: Florida AG tries to blame Mexico and China in public but not in court
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody lost her bid to prevent opioid defendants from telling jurors about illegal fentanyl flooding the state from conspirators in Mexico and China - a theory the Republican AG herself has loudly promoted in calls for tighter border security.
Opioids
Defense rests, two-week break before closing arguments in opioid distributors’ trial in Washington State
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - The last witness appeared on Monday in a trial that has gone on for more than four months accusing three of the country’s largest distributors of opioid pills of causing an overdose epidemic in Washington State.
Opioids
Should pharmacies have to pay billions to two Ohio counties for opioid issues?
CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) - Walmart, Walgreens and CVS told a judge they should pay only a small fraction of the $2 billion or more that two Ohio counties are seeking for an “abatement” plan to address opioid abuse, saying they supplied less than 3% of the suspicious prescriptions plaintiff lawyers blame for the wider opioid crisis.
Opioids
Defense witness says doctors impact shipments of opioids, not distributors in Washington State epidemic trial
SEATTLE (legal Newsline) - In a trial of three opioid drug distribution companies accused of causing an overdose epidemic in Washington State, defense attorneys on Thursday sought to portray the pill dispensing system as tightly organized, and influenced by prescribing doctors, not the companies.
Opioids
Defense witness says prescription opioids essential for pain relief in trial of distributors
SEATTLE (Legal Newsline) - In a trial to decide if three of the country’s biggest distributors of opioids caused an overdose epidemic in Washington State, defense attorneys on Monday and Tuesday sought to show the drugs are an essential component of pain treatment and the benefits outweigh the risks.