Publication Archive: Opioid Epidemic

The state of Oklahoma plans to take Johnson & Johnson to court after a judge ruled the state can try a civil case that would order the company to pay more than $17.5 billion for their alleged role in the opioid crisis. At the end of May, Hunter Shkolnik, a partner at Napoli Shkolnik, told…Read the article

A New York judge has allowed a group of consolidated cases brought by several counties and cities in New York to pursue claims against the Sackler family in order to recoup millions of dollars in costs tied to the opioid crisis. In a ruling Friday, Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo found two cities and 31…Read the article

The Sackler family members who control Purdue Pharma LP can’t avoid claims they were complicit in alleged company conduct that gave rise to the nationwide opioid epidemic, a New York judge has ruled, finding they must face multidistrict litigation in the state. Salvatore C. Badala of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, also representing the plaintiffs, said his…Read the article

The billionaire owners of Purdue Pharma LP must face a New York lawsuit claiming they triggered the U.S. opioid epidemic, a judge ruled, handing an early victory to states and local governments seeking to recoup billions of dollars in social costs from the drugs. A state judge on Friday denied the Sacklers’ request to dismiss the lawsuit,…Read the article

In March, Judge Polster ruled that BakerHoestetler couldn’t represent Endo in the bellwether cases brought by the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County, finding that this nonpublic information “may go to the heart of plaintiffs’ damages claims” and if used “could materially prejudice Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.” “BakerHostetler and Ms. Rendon are unhappy that Judge…Read the article

Hunter Shkolnik, a partner at Napoli Shkolnik, is representing hundreds of counties in opioid cases, including one of the first to be tried as part of large multi-district litigation starting in October. He said: “The Insys verdict is a harbinger of very bad things to come for the manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy chains involved in…Read the article

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster clears the way for testimony at a bellwether trial by Russell Portenoy. “The court concludes Dr. Portenoy’s testimony is too important to the [bellwether] trial, and that exclusion of his testimony is too extreme a sanction under these circumstances,” Judge Polster wrote in rejecting sanctions that…Read the article

Rochester Drug Cooperative, Inc. (RDC), one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical distributors, was charged by federal prosecutors with conspiracy to distribute controlled narcotics — oxycodone and fentanyl — for non-medical reasons and conspiracy to defraud. RDC is one of the “big pharma” distributors being sued by Schuyler County for fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution…Read the article

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik, who represents bellwether plaintiff Cuyahoga County, told me the expert witness reports were supposed to remain confidential. “I really don’t see a rational, calculated benefit for defendants from disclosing those numbers,” he said. Shkolnik, who declined to confirm his experts’ damages estimates, said the defense goal appears to be to delay…Read the article

The Hawaiʻi County Council voted to approve Resolution 20-19, authorizing the County to employ a private attorney in litigation against opioid manufacturers “who may be liable to the County of Hawaiʻi for the opioid epidemic”, the measure stated. Any and all compensation to Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and its local counsel, the HI Accident Law Center…Read the article