Publication Archive: Opioids Litigation

The Portland, Bangor and Lewiston lawsuits, along with many others, will now be influenced by three “bellwether cases” set to be tried in the Northern District of Ohio next year, said Paul Napoli, a New York-based lawyer for the Maine cities, as well as many others. Settlements in those cases, brought by the city of…Read the article

Five county commissions, including Monongalia, Marion, Doddridge, Randolph and Upshur, are joining in on dozens of lawsuits filed against Purdue Pharma and many other pharmaceutical companies for the opioid crisis. The commissions claim the defendants put their desire for profits above the interests of the health and well-being of the counties’ residents. The counties are…Read the article

The County Commission unanimously approved a resolution that ends multiple lawsuits involving the pending opioid litigation, an issue that divided the legislative and executive branches of government for much of the past year. Shelby County government will now move forward with one joint opioid lawsuit, supported by the administration and County Commission, in state court.…Read the article

In a motion to dismiss, drugmakers accused Ohio cities and counties of disregarding an April case management order requiring the disclosure of prescriptions that the governments believe were medically unnecessary or medically inappropriate. Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a top attorney for the local governments, fired back on Friday, calling the motion “a ridiculous…Read the article

Drug companies are trying to move Portland’s lawsuit over the opioid crisis to a federal court in Ohio – a maneuver lawyers for the city call a stalling tactic. The city is challenging these moves in its effort to keep the case over the mounting financial and human toll of the opioid crisis in a…Read the article

Portland’s lawsuit over costs associated with opioid addiction maybe heard elsewhere after defendants moved to shift the case from Cumberland County Superior Court to the U.S. District Court of Northern Ohio. Attorney Paul J. Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik in New York City along with local counsel filed a motion to remand, or return the case to Cumberland…Read the article

A special master appointed to oversee a discovery dispute in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis partially granted a request by counties for more information from a McKesson Corp. investigation into suspicious drug order oversight, finding the counties are entitled to witness names but that statements and terms used in the investigation are protected work…Read the article

The drugmakers are taking issue with requirements to produce certain data stretching back to 1996, records related to any schedule II opioids and documents produced previously in any litigation involving the marketing or distribution of opioids. Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a top plaintiffs attorney in the MDL, told Law360 that the (defense) parties…Read the article

The suits claim the businesses fueled the opioid epidemic through a fraudulent marketing campaign that misrepresented the drugs’ safety and effectiveness. They seek compensation for the governmental costs of dealing with opioid addiction, which include higher expenditures on Medicaid, rehabilitation programs, law enforcement and even a greater number of autopsies. Paul Napoli of Manhattan’s Napoli…Read the article

A New York judge presiding over the state courts’ multicounty opioid litigation in Suffolk County brought on behalf of a coalition of New York counties, which is being closely watched by courts in other jurisdictions around the country, has refused to toss claims against drug distributors. “This is another major victory for New York in…Read the article