An Ohio federal judge on Monday refused attempts by Rite Aid, Walmart and others to dismiss claims alleging that their failure to stop opioids from being diverted for illicit purposes created a public nuisance, saying that counties had shown evidence to back the allegations. "These decisions were of no surprise," Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, a top plaintiffs lawyer in the MDL, told Law360 on Monday. "Walgreens lost the same motions, and these were on hold since the Cuyahoga trial. Judge Polster cleaned house, and now [the pharmacies] are sitting alongside Walgreens at our next trial."     Download