美国国家公共电台 NPR Oklahoma Drops Some Claims To 'Refocus' Lawsuit Against Opioid-Makers

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Oklahoma Drops Some Claims To 'Refocus' Lawsuit¹ Against Opioid-Makers²

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A trial date is approaching for makers of opioids. And the state of Oklahoma, which sued them, is making adjustments to its case. Oklahoma reached a settlement with Purdue Pharma earlier this week. It will pay $270 million to Oklahoma for its role in the opioid crisis. The state is dropping some charges against other companies.

Here's Jackie Fortier of StateImpact Oklahoma.

JACKIE FORTIER: Oklahoma has dismissed claims that included fraud and unjust enrichment against three drug companies who the state alleges³ helped ignite the opioid crisis with aggressive marketing⁴. Now the whole case rests on a public nuisance claim. Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says they streamlined the case.

MIKE HUNTER: It also allows us to avoid a lot of the pretrial - what I'm going to refer to as stalling tactics by the defendants⁵.

FORTIER: The defendants are now opioid manufacturers Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals⁶ USA and Allergan. With a trial date of May 28 fast approaching, these last-minute legal maneuverings are being closely watched. Oklahoma's is the first of the major opioid cases slated⁷ to go to trial this year.

ALEXANDRA LAHAV: So it is not at all unusual that claims will fall out before trial.

FORTIER: Alexandra Lahav is a law professor at the University of Connecticut. She says that last week's $270 million settlement by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, which will fund a drug addiction⁸ research and treatment center, has changed Oklahoma's case against the remaining drug companies.

LAHAV: And the evidence against Purdue is very bad. And so if these defendants don't have evidence like that against them - so if they don't have emails where they're being disparaging⁹ or dismissive of the opioids crisis, for example, where they seem to be taking advantage - then they're in a much better position than Purdue is.

FORTIER: Lahav says the Oklahoma case will give a clue as to how the drug companies may handle the roughly 1,100 other cases against them across the country.

LAHAV: I do think this does set a tone for the next six months to see, are defendants ready to settle? Or are defendants going to continue litigating these cases? It does seem that Purdue is ready to settle. But that is - you know, these other defendants are in a different position. The evidence against them is different.

FORTIER: If the state's public nuisance claim prevails, Big Pharma could have to spend billions of dollars in Oklahoma helping¹⁰ ease the epidemic¹¹. The state has also requested a bench trial, meaning the judge would decide if the drug companies are at fault, not a jury.

For NPR News, I'm Jackie Fortier in Norman, Okla.