September 16, 2019
An out-of-the-blue crusade by drug distributors and pharmacies to disqualify the judge supervising multidistrict opioid litigation has little chance of succeeding, but it could lay the foundation for future challenges to the judge's sweeping rejection of legal defenses, experts say. Here, Law360 explores four key takeaways about the motion's impetus and likely fate.
September 16, 2019
Attorneys for local governments on Monday accused drug distributors and pharmacies of "inventing" statements by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster in order to make him appear biased, urging the court to reject the companies' disqualification bid.
September 14, 2019
Drug distributors and pharmacies on Saturday launched a bold attack on the Ohio federal judge supervising multidistrict opioid litigation, accusing him of appearing deeply biased against them and deserving of disqualification.
September 13, 2019
A team of six top attorneys will now be representing a novel “negotiation class" on behalf of cities and counties in the opioid multidistrict litigation with the hopes of hammering out a global settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors accused of fueling the devastating epidemic. Here are the six negotiators and some of their biggest cases and notable achievements.
September 11, 2019
The Sixth Circuit has rejected a bid by two Endo units to order an Ohio federal court to vacate its order disqualifying a former U.S. attorney and her firm BakerHostetler from representing the companies in sprawling Ohio multidistrict litigation involving racketeering and corrupt practices charges against various opioid makers and distributors.
September 11, 2019
In a possible turning point for a wave of opioid-crisis lawsuits, an Ohio federal judge on Wednesday approved a novel "negotiation class" that could encompass every U.S. city and county in hopes of striking global settlements with pharmaceutical companies.
September 11, 2019
Purdue Pharma LP and its owners, the Sackler family, have reached a tentative deal to settle roughly 2,000 opioid suits brought by local governments, states and tribes, with the Sacklers agreeing to pay $3 billion from their own fortune, a source involved with the negotiations told Law360 on Wednesday.
September 10, 2019
Purdue Pharma and other opioid makers and distributors can't avoid racketeering and corrupt practices charges in sprawling Ohio multidistrict litigation because the suing cities and Native nations have plausibly alleged the companies "associated together for the common purpose of expanding the prescription opioid market," a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
September 09, 2019
Thirteen states and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday backed a recent bid by the Ohio attorney general to block an upcoming bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis, telling the Sixth Circuit that the states are the chief guardians of their citizens' welfare.
September 06, 2019
Mallinckrodt said Friday it will pay $24 million and donate up to $6 million in generic drugs to resolve claims from two Ohio counties that are behind the lead bellwether cases in multidistrict litigation against opioid manufacturers.