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 The case against Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd, Endo International PLC and AbbVie's Allergan unit is one of the
thousands of lawsuits by states and local governments seeking to
hold pharmaceutical companies responsible for the drug crisis.
Opioids have resulted in the overdose deaths of nearly 500,000
people from 1999 to 2019 in the United States, according to U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The populous Santa Clara, Los Angeles and Orange counties and the
city of Oakland accuse the companies of deceptively marketing
painkillers in ways that downplayed their addictive risks. The
drugmakers argue they acted appropriately and that they did not
cause the epidemic.
If Orange County Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson finds the
companies liable following a non-jury trial, the counties say the
companies should have to pay $50 billion to cover the costs of
abating the public nuisance they created plus penalties.
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 More than 3,400 similar
lawsuits are pending nationally over the opioid
epidemic. The only other case to go to trial in
the opioid litigation resulted in the state of
Oklahoma in 2019 winning a $465 million judgment
against J&J, which is appealing.
Other cases are slated to go to trial in the
coming months, creating new pressure for the
companies to reach settlements.
The nation's three largest drug distributors -
McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and
Cardinal Health Inc - and J&J have proposed
paying a combined $26 billion to resolve the
cases against them. The proposed deal has not
been finalized.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by
Daniel Wallis)
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