Oklahoma Claims $465M Opioid Verdict Insufficient

Oklahoma Claims $465M Opioid Verdict Insufficient

Introduction

On Monday, Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter's office filed an appeal against the $465 million verdict claiming that the amount will be insufficient to curb the effect of the state's opioid epidemic.

According to the Supreme Court filings, the state is seeking an authority to come back and ask for more money later against the defendants Johnson & Johnson (J&J), who allegedly engaged in a decisive and misleading marketing campaign to fuel the opioid crisis. The appeal noted that the current verdict would only fund the first year of abatement efforts, and it would take 20 or more years to fully abate the effect for which the state claimed for an award of $17 billion.

Last week, attorneys on behalf of J&J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals filed an appeal to overturn the verdict stating that the judge misapplied the state’s public nuisance laws in reaching his decision.

An appeal to pay $468,920 to cover the state's out-of-pocket litigation expenses for the trial has also been filed by the attorneys for the state in Cleveland County District Court.

Earlier, Ontario passed a bill to join five other provinces in a class-action suit led by British Columbia against opioid manufacturers alleging false marketing tactics.

The suit is filed in a bid to recoup costs from manufacturers and distributors for the nuances caused post its introduction in 1996 into the Canadian market. The province stated that they would invest the potential settlement amount into front-line mental health and addiction services. Other provinces who support the lawsuit include New Brunswick, Newfoundland, and Labrador, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

A study by a national advisory committee shows around 14,000 Canadians have been killed by the opioid over the last four years. The number is high in the U.S, with 400,000 deaths between 1999 and 2017.

More than 2,600 lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2804 (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation) presided by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster.