By Daniel Siegal

Law360 (April 1, 2020, 10:35 PM EDT) -- The novel coronavirus has brought jury trials to a standstill in one of the pandemic's most immediate blows to the legal sector, including court battles over whether Johnson & Johnson and Bayer products cause cancer and the New York attorney general's effort to hold drugmakers liable for the opioid crisis.

Here, Law360 looks at some of the highly anticipated trials that will be on hold until courts either feel safe bringing dozens of jurors together in one room again or find a new way to select a jury.

NY Opioid Showdown

New York Attorney General Letitia James and two Long Island counties were supposed to have already started the second trial to come from the thousands of cases filed by state and local governments blaming drug companies for the opioid crisis.

James and the counties of Nassau and Suffolk were supposed to take their claims against drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies before a jury on March 20, but the trial judge has postponed the case indefinitely.

That judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo, has scheduled a conference for April 14 to establish the case's path toward trial.

After the postponement, James said in a statement that the case would not be delayed "a single minute longer than necessary" for public health reasons.

Paul Napoli, who represents the counties, told Law360 this week that while it is unlikely that the trial will be proceeding in mid-April, it will start as soon as the parties get the all-clear from the court.

"While justice has certainly been delayed, it has not been denied," Napoli said. "The municipalities are using the additional time to find even more evidence of the opioid manufacturers' and distributors' conduct."

The first trial in the battle between governments and opioid makers and distributors saw Oklahoma's attorney general win a $465 million judgment against Johnson & Johnson in August, which the company is appealing.

A proposed first trial in the federal multidistrict litigation over similar claims was called off after settlements were reached hours before opening statements were set to begin in October. The plaintiffs for that trial, two Ohio counties, recovered a total of $325 million in settlements.

Defendants in the New York case include divisions of J&J, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan Inc., McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. and Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc. Drugmaker Mallinckrodt has also reached a tentative $1.6 billion deal in the MDL and has asked to be severed from the New York trial.

The case is In re: Opioid Litigation, case number 400000/2017, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Suffolk County.

J&J Talc Trials

The coronavirus is also pumping the brakes on J&J's yearslong legal war against allegations that its talc contains asbestos and causes cancer. The suits have spread across the nation with plaintiffs ringing up huge verdicts, although J&J won nearly half of its talc trials over the past year.

At least a half-dozen talc trials involving J&J have been delayed because of the pandemic, including cases in California, Georgia and Illinois.

Ted Meadows of Beasley Allen said his firm has two trials that have already been delayed: Brower v. J&J in Georgia, originally scheduled to start April 8, and Cadigan v. J&J in Illinois, originally slated for May 4. Neither case has been given a new trial date, Meadows said. He also noted that another case, Kleiner v. J&J in Philadelphia, will likely not make its June 15 start date.

Other cases that have been delayed include Lebrecht v. J&J and Zimmerman v. J&J, both in Los Angeles Superior Court, which have seen proposed March start dates taken off the calendar. The Lebrecht trial is suspended until June 22 and there will be a trial-setting conference on June 4 in the Zimmerman case.

A J&J representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Roundup Cancer Suit

Court closures have also delayed another major product liability case, taking a March 23 trial in the case Seitz v. Monsanto off the calendar. Plaintiff Leroy Seitz is the latest person to allege that Monsanto's blockbuster weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Monsanto has been purchased and absorbed by Bayer.

Plaintiffs in California won huge verdicts that were reduced post-trial, with the first plaintiff, Ed Hardeman, ultimately being awarded $25 million and a couple, Alva and Alberta Pilliod, getting $86.7 million.

The Seitz case isn't the first Roundup trial to be delayed in St. Louis, Monsanto's former home base and still home to Bayer's crop sciences division. A case filed by plaintiff Christopher Wade set to start earlier this year was continued after a jury was selected. The parties said that they decided to delay the trial so as not to interfere with settlement talks being conducted under the auspices of the federal MDL of Roundup claims.

The Seitz case is now headed for a trial-setting conference on April 27, according to the court docket.

An attorney for Seitz and a representative for Bayer did not respond to requests for comment.

The case is Seitz v. Monsanto, case number 1722-CC11325, in St. Louis City Circuit Court.

Avenatti's Next Criminal Trials

Disgraced lawyer Michael Avenatti already lost the first of three criminal trials he was set to face this year, having been convicted of trying to extort $25 million from Nike in a New York federal trial in February.

Avenatti, a Los Angeles-based plaintiffs attorney, came to prominence as a sparring partner of President Donald Trump while representing adult film actress Stormy Daniels in her suit over the $130,000 payment arranged by the president's former longtime attorney Michael Cohen to buy her silence about an alleged hotel room tryst with Trump.

Avenatti was supposed to head to a pair of trials in May, one in New York and the other in Santa Ana, California. The New York trial, involving allegations that Avenatti stole $300,000 of an $800,000 book advance he helped negotiate for Daniels, has been pushed to July 14.

And the Santa Ana trial on charges that Avenatti embezzled millions of dollars from five of his clients to pay his own debts has been delayed until Aug. 18.

The judge overseeing the Santa Ana case invited Avenatti last week to take a second shot at requesting his release from custody pending trial.

U.S. District Judge James Selna issued a minute order noting the changing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, where Avenatti is being held. Avenatti is due to be sentenced in the extortion case on June 17.

An attorney for Avenatti did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The cases are U.S. v. Avenatti, case number 1:19-cr-00374, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, and U.S. v. Avenatti, case number 8:19-cr-00061, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Lead Contamination Coverage Fight

In this suit, insurer Zurich American is seeking a declaration that it doesn't have to help policyholder Fluor Corp. pay $300 million in legal settlements over poisonings and pollution in a small Missouri town that was home to the nation's last lead ore smelter.

The case was set for trial on May 18, but that trial has been delayed indefinitely.

There is some bad blood in the case, as Fluor has accused Zurich of repeatedly refusing to hand over or hiding damaging evidence.

Fluor has asked the court to sanction Zurich for the alleged discovery violations by dismissing the insurer's claims and granting default judgment to Fluor on its counterclaims that Zurich refused to contribute to settlements in the underlying suits in bad faith.

That motion is pending.

The case is Zurich American Insurance Co. v. Fluor Corp. et al., case number 4:16-cv-00429, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.

--Additional reporting by Cara Bayles, Jeff Overley, Cara Salvatore and Kevin Stawicki. Editing by Aaron Pelc and Emily Kokoll.

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