Weekly Mass Torts Bulletin 2023-January-30
JUUL Gets Preliminary Court Approval Over Vape Suits
As the business attempts to settle hundreds of cases, Juul Labs Inc obtained preliminary court approval of a $255 million deal, settling customer accusations that it falsely promoted e-cigarettes.
According to a court filing, the proposed class action settlement settling claims by users who claimed they overpaid for Juul's vaping devices was fair, reasonable, and appropriate.
The payment is part of Juul's wider global agreement to settle hundreds of claims filed by school districts, local governments, and individuals accusing the company of contributing to a juvenile vaping pandemic.
Last month, the corporation said that it had negotiated settlements with about 10,000 claimants in over 5,000 instances. It has not stated how much it would pay, but sources claim that the transaction is worth $1.7 billion.
The class action settlement resolves claims by customers who allege they would have spent less or not purchased the e-cigarettes at all if Juul had not minimised the devices' addictiveness and marketed to youths via social media ads and other ways. A request for comment from Juul was not returned.
Juul, which is owned in part by Marlboro manufacturer Altria Group Inc, agreed in September to pay $438.5 million to resolve charges from 34 U.S. states and territories that the firm targeted underage buyers and downplayed the hazards of its products.
The Food and Drug Administration temporarily banned Juul's e-cigarettes in June, but the rule was eventually reversed after an appeal.
Nearly $3B Secured By Texas In Opioid Settlements
The Texas Attorney General has obtained an extra $1 billion in opioid settlement funds for the state, increasing the total settlement funds from several lawsuits to over $3 billion.
His administration recently negotiated opioid settlement settlements with Allergen, CVS, and Walgreens. Texas participated in multi-state agreements with these firms for their claimed roles in the opioid epidemic, including a $2.37 billion nationwide deal with opioid maker Allergan and a $10.7 billion settlement with pharmaceutical behemoths CVS and Walgreens.
Texas and local governments will collect more than $135 million from Allergan over a seven-year period as a result of these settlements. They will also earn more than $304 million from CVS over a 10-year period and $340 million from Walgreens over a 15-year period.
Allergen formerly manufactured Norco and Kadian-branded opioids until selling its generic opioid drugs to Teva in 2016. Several states struck cooperative deals with Allergan and Teva Pharmaceuticals last year. Teva agreed to pay Texas $150 million in cash and deliver $75 million in Narcan, a lifesaving nasal spray used to prevent opioid overdoses, including fentanyl, in a separate settlement with Texas in February.
According to the states' attorneys general, Allergan falsely promoted opioids by downplaying the risk of addiction, exaggerating their benefits, and pushing doctors to treat patients displaying indications of addiction by prescribing more opioids. Allergan is also accused of failing to maintain appropriate measures to prevent drug diversion.
The settlement agreements help to hold individuals responsible for creating and exacerbating the problem accountable, deliver justice to those who have suffered as a result of Allergan's reckless conduct, give cash to prohibit the irresponsible distribution of opioids, and assist Texans suffering addiction.
The settlement deal with Allergan calls for clinical data to be shared through a third-party archive and papers to be disclosed through a public repository. It also prevents Allergan from selling opioids, sponsoring or granting grants to third parties for opioid promotion, or lobbying on opioid-related issues.
As part of their settlement deals, CVS and Walgreens agreed to monitor, disclose, and exchange data regarding suspicious behaviour connected to opioid prescriptions, in addition to agreeing to pay the states over $11 billion in fines.
Local governments have the option to join the settlement once states do. CVS and Walgreens payouts might begin in the second half of 2023, depending on how many people sign the agreements across the country.Almost all settlement funds are to be utilized for prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and rehabilitation programmes.
So far, multi-state investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its participation in the opioid crisis have resulted in a total payment to states of more than $50 billion.
Court Calls Off Arrangement To Settle 3M Earplugs Claims
The federal court in Florida hearing over a slew of earplug claims filed against 3M has called off efforts to arrange a settlement.
However, in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indiana, mediation between 3M and attorneys representing thousands of former and current military members who claim that defective 3M earplugs caused hearing loss continues. It's the latest strange twist in a lengthy court battle over possibly billions of dollars in damages.
In one of the greatest mass tort cases in US history, 3M is facing over 200,000 complaints in US District Court in northern Florida. Military plaintiffs have won 10 of 16 earplug bellwether trials in Florida in the last two years, and juries have awarded them nearly $300 million.
However, the proceedings did not result in a global settlement of all lawsuits. As a result, a U.S. District Judge in Pensacola, Florida, ordered formal mediation in June.
The judge ruled a stalemate. According to the judge, given the parties' evidently implacable attitudes, additional formal mediation sessions would be ineffective at this time.
She also stated that 3M has stated that it has no willingness to negotiate a worldwide settlement before her court and is adamant about resolving all claims only through the bankruptcy system. Meanwhile, the plaintiffs' counsel has stated unequivocally that any bankruptcy-only remedy is unacceptable.
Following years of litigation, 3M filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for its Aearo Technologies business this summer, effectively suspending litigation against Aearo. 3M's earplug business began at Aearo, which is also cited as a defendant in 3M's earplug lawsuits.
Aearo petitioned the United States Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis to extend the litigation freeze or automatic stay to 3M, a contentious action aimed at removing earplug lawsuit authority. In December, two co-mediators were selected, one of whom had previously served as a mediator in the earplug dispute.
The co-mediators stated in a bankruptcy court filing that they have had phone conversations and "extensive" emails and messages with attorneys for 3M and the claimants. Both parties have operated in "good faith," and I want to hold a formal mediation session in early February.
In a statement, 3M stated it "continues to support Aearo Technologies by engaging in mediation negotiations toward a resolution in the Chapter 11 process. Our goal remains on resolving this case in an efficient, equitable, and speedy manner, and we look forward to working with all parties, as well as the mediators and the courts."
Plaintiffs' attorneys stated in a statement that they will continue to mediate in good faith as directed by the bankruptcy court, despite the fact that 3M has now stated that the ultimate goal is not a 'efficient and equitable' resolution, but an indefinite delay in justice for the service members they have harmed.
MO To Launch Statewide Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
Missouri is ready to establish a statewide prescription drug monitoring program to combat the opioid problem, despite Republican opposition for years.
The state will pay a medical technology company $1.4 million to run the initiative, which is intended to reduce opioid addiction, according to a deal signed earlier this month.
Bamboo Health of Kentucky, which was already in charge of a county-level programme run by St. Louis County, won the contract, which was put out to bid last year following legislative approval of the plan.
Bamboo Health stated in a statement that it will effortlessly migrate the St. Louis County system to the Missouri statewide system without the need for a complex data migration operation. The scheme is intended to reduce "doctor-shopping" in order to receive several prescriptions for pain relievers.
However, the former senator, a Republican from northwest Missouri, raised persistent worries about patient privacy when firms acquire medical information.
When efforts to establish a nationwide monitoring program in Missouri faltered, St. Louis County developed one in 2017 in which 75 local authorities agreed to join, representing 85% of the state.
According to health experts, opioid prescriptions dropped drastically after the county implemented the monitoring scheme. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Missouri had an average of 80.4 opioid prescriptions per 100 individuals in 2016 and 58.3 prescriptions in 2019. Nonetheless, Missouri's total drug overdose fatality rate has consistently grown since 2016.
Over a two-year period between 2020 and 2022, the City of St. Louis Medical Examiner's office verified approximately 900 unintentional death overdoses. During the same time period, St. Louis County had around 700 overdose deaths.
Missouri ranked 16th among states on an annual basis from 2010 to 2019, as the country plummeted into an opioid epidemic, according to a Kaiser Health News study of CDC data published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Pharmacists who distribute prohibited medications will be compelled to put prescriptions into a database, which will subsequently be available to doctors, according to the plan.
Bamboo executives stated in their bid offer to the state that a comparable programme in Louisiana has witnessed a large rise in usage after the firm took control. In 2019, for example, it logged 800,000 doctor searches. In January 2022, that figure had risen to more than 2.7 million.
Opioid prescriptions fell 21% in Kansas, where the program has been in place for nearly seven years, from 2018 to 2022. Prescriptions written by numerous doctors fell by 86% from 10.9 per 100,000 in 2018 to 1.5 per 100,000 in 2022.