U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, Ohio picked three
lawsuits by municipalities and counties in the state to be the first
cases against drug manufacturers and distributors to face a jury in
the sprawling litigation.
The lawsuits accuse the drugmakers of deceptively marketing opioids
and allege that drug distributors ignored red flags indicating the
painkillers were being diverted for improper uses.
In 2016, 42,000 people died from opioid overdoses, according to the
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The defendants include opioid manufacturers Purdue Pharma LP,
Johnson & Johnson , Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Endo
International Plc and drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Corp,
Cardinal Health Inc and McKesson Corp. They have denied wrongdoing.
Polster, who is overseeing at least 433 lawsuits largely by cities
and counties, has been pushing for a global settlement and has
invited state attorneys general with state court cases or probes not
before him to participate in those talks.
But roadblocks have emerged, and Polster in a ruling on Wednesday
said the companies have "asserted forcefully that they cannot reach
final settlement without litigating certain matters."
He said his scheduling order was intended to "address this
impediment."
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The March 18, 2019 trial date will put the Ohio cases ahead of a May
2019 trial previously scheduled in a lawsuit by Oklahoma's attorney
general in state court. The four drugmakers in that case had sought
a 2020 date.
"Getting the cases to trial accelerates an outcome of some sort,"
said Archie Lamb, a lawyer for some of the plaintiffs.
Polster said additional trials would be scheduled in lawsuits by
local governments in West Virginia, Illinois, Alabama, Michigan and
Florida.
The cases were picked for so-called bellwether trials, essentially
test cases used in mass litigation in the United States to help both
sides gauge the range of damages and define settlement options.
To help the plaintiffs, Polster on Wednesday also ordered the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration turn over "critical" data that would
allow them to assess to what extent the companies sold or
distributed drugs in the six states at issue.
The U.S. Justice Department had no immediate comment. Various
defendants also did not respond to requests for comment.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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