CLEVELAND (Legal Newsline) – Large pharmacy chains are asking why they are being sued by hundreds of cities and counties over the opioid crisis instead of the criminals who pushed drugs to addicts.
WASHINGTON – Judges on a national panel must decide whether to consolidate opioid suits of local governments and, if so, whether to send them to West Virginia, Illinois or Ohio.
CHARLESTON – West Virginia’s liability law has passed its first test by allowing defendants in opioid epidemic suits to spread blame. The new law gives defendants 180 days to identify possibly responsible parties that plaintiffs didn’t sue. Those other parties will pay nothing on a jury verdict, but their share of liability will reduce the damages defendants must pay.
West Virginians first had to face the epidemic of addiction to opioids. Now there’s an epidemic of opioid lawsuits. Who's responsible for the first epidemic, in addition to the drug abusers, is subject to dispute. The ones responsible for the second epidemic are known.
