April 06, 2020
An Ohio federal judge Friday trimmed some claims in Florida-based West Boca Medical Center's opioid addiction suit, which has been floated as a bellwether in the sprawling multidistrict litigation against drug companies, but opted against cutting the hospital's public nuisance claims.
April 01, 2020
The Ohio federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis tossed a bid brought by pharmacy chains, including CVS Pharmacy Inc., Walgreen Co. and Walmart Inc., to shift blame onto prescribers, saying he found no basis for the pharmacies to transfer their liability.
March 23, 2020
An Ohio federal judge's creation of a negotiation class to help resolve multidistrict opioid litigation doesn't subvert federal rules, which were never supposed to serve as a "straightjacket" to block new ways of adjudicating large class actions, attorneys for the class told the Sixth Circuit.
March 16, 2020
A West Virginia city and county shouldn't proceed with their bellwether trial in multidistrict opioid litigation, three prescription drug wholesalers have told a federal judge, saying previous state settlements extinguish the need for the cases to proceed.
March 11, 2020
Drugmaker Mallinckrodt said Wednesday that its $1.6 billion settlement to exit a flood of opioid litigation brought by state and local governments is one step closer to complete now that New York Attorney General Letitia James has thrown her support behind the deal.
March 10, 2020
The Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic tasked a Harvard Law School professor on Monday with helping the court navigate "novel" legal issues about how to compensate attorneys, some of whom say their payday could amount to more than $3.3 billion.
February 27, 2020
Drug companies on Wednesday told the Ohio federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over the opioid epidemic that a proposal for attorney fees — which they say could be more than $3.3 billion — would "severely jeopardize" settlement negotiations in the litigation.
February 26, 2020
The Ohio federal judge overseeing multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis told the Sixth Circuit that pharmacies looking to block nationwide discovery are contradicting themselves by raising privacy concerns when they've tried to pry sensitive health data from plaintiffs in the past.
February 25, 2020
Mallinckrodt said Tuesday it had reached a $1.6 billion deal to exit a flood of opioid litigation brought by state and local governments, becoming the latest drugmaker to open its wallet to close out claims that it helped fuel an epidemic of painkiller addiction.
February 24, 2020
A group of 37 attorneys general urged an Ohio federal judge Monday to reject a fee request from lead plaintiffs' attorneys in the opioid multidistrict litigation, saying it could irreparably disrupt progress made toward reaching a large national settlement.