June 11, 2024
Communities ravaged by opioid addiction have secured billions of dollars in settlements with companies that make, market and dispense the drugs. A new target is now emerging in the next wave of litigation — pharmacy benefit managers.
June 07, 2024
A panel directed with allocating $2.13 billion in attorney fees stemming from opioid settlements has recommended awarding the largest shares of the pot to Motley Rice LLC, Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC and Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, according to a report filed Friday in Ohio federal court.
May 20, 2024
Four municipalities are asking an Ohio federal court overseeing the national opioid litigation to sanction pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts Inc. and OptumRX Inc., saying they've willfully defied the court's order to provide complete responses to discovery requests.
May 03, 2024
A federal judge overseeing national opioid litigation has rejected Publix's bid to ask the Georgia Supreme Court "convoluted and confusing" questions about if the state's public nuisance law applied to allegations the supermarket chain overdistributed painkillers.
April 05, 2024
Grocery chain Publix has asked the Ohio federal court overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation to send questions to Georgia's high court about whether that state's law allows public nuisance claims over a healthcare provider's dispensing of prescription narcotics.
March 19, 2024
An Ohio federal judge has denied a bid by pharmacy benefit manager OptumRx to disqualify Motley Rice LLC from representing plaintiffs in the national opioid litigation, saying the company hasn't shown that the firm's prior representation of states investigating opioids puts the company at a disadvantage in the multidistrict litigation.
February 27, 2024
More than 20 hospitals and related companies have joined multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic, alleging in a massive new complaint that pharmacies, drug distributors and others contributed to a crisis that damaged hospitals' finances and strained their ability to help patients.
February 26, 2024
A discovery dispute that includes references to the Rebel Alliance in the movie "Star Wars" and accusations of circumventing court rules — in a galaxy closer to Ohio — is headed before a federal judge handling multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic.
February 01, 2024
Hikma Pharmaceuticals and several attorneys general announced a $150 million agreement in principle on Thursday resolving cases brought by a group of states and localities alleging the company fueled the opioid crisis by failing to report suspicious opioid orders from potentially illegal distributors.
January 22, 2024
Law firms representing governments suing over the opioid epidemic on Monday told an Ohio federal judge that "corporate wrongdoers" don't get to pick who sues them, in response to a pharmacy benefit manager's bid to disqualify Motley Rice LLC over its representation of other governments in prescription drug disputes.