May 17, 2023
Walgreens Co. has agreed to pay $230 million to San Francisco for its role in the city's opioid epidemic following a landmark weeks-long bench trial last year that found the pharmacy chain liable for distributing thousands of suspicious painkiller prescriptions in the area without proper screenings, the city announced Wednesday.
May 02, 2023
A West Virginia city and county have told the Fourth Circuit that distributors of addictive painkillers misinterpreted state nuisance law and the federal Controlled Substances Act when seeking to uphold a lower court's dismissal of the local governments' multibillion-dollar opioid lawsuit.
April 24, 2023
The top federal judge in multidistrict opioid litigation lashed out Monday against new accusations of using his gavel as a cudgel to bully corporations into settlements, calling the criticism from a major division of UnitedHealth Group Inc. "meritless" and "insulting."
April 11, 2023
A Michigan state judge on Tuesday sanctioned Ottawa County and its outside counsel for filing what she called a frivolous lawsuit challenging a national opioid settlement, ruling the county had an unreasonable interpretation of the deal and that its lawyer lied about who was overseeing the funds.
March 24, 2023
A West Virginia federal judge's monumental rejection of a multibillion-dollar opioid case correctly avoided a "dramatic rewriting" of state law that would threaten legal exposure for sellers of liquor, cellphones, firearms and other lawful products, drug distributors told the Fourth Circuit on Friday.
March 08, 2023
The Ohio federal judge guiding multidistrict opioid litigation is opening new bellwether frontiers involving pharmacy chains and health insurance entities that have sat on the MDL's sidelines, and he signaled impatience this week with "an inefficient use of judicial resources" amid lengthy settlement talks.
March 01, 2023
Pharmaceutical wholesalers aren't responsible for harms to individuals whose family members abused narcotics, a Georgia jury decided Wednesday, capping off a first-of-its-kind trial that threatened to open a massive new front in opioid litigation despite multibillion-dollar settlements covering harms suffered by communities.
February 27, 2023
Drug distribution companies can't be held responsible for the destruction that opioid addiction wreaked on a Georgia community, attorneys told a Peach State jury during closing arguments Monday, because the availability of the drugs is just one thread in a complex web of potential harm.
February 15, 2023
The Ohio counties of Lake and Trumbull late Tuesday defended their milestone $650 million opioid trial win over pharmacy giants CVS, Walgreens and Walmart, telling the Sixth Circuit that their claims that the pharmacies created a public nuisance by "egregious" opioid dispensing aren't barred by federal law.
February 14, 2023
Prescription opioids are more addictive than cocaine, a recovering addict told a Georgia jury Tuesday during the third week of a trial against drug distribution giants accused of bombarding a Peach State community with pills for profit.