The Litigation Counsellor®

On July 4, 2022, a West Virginia federal judge found in favor of three drug distributors in the West Virginia opioid litigation. U.S. District Judge David Haber found that Cabell County and the city of Huntington, West Virginia failed to prove that AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. created a public nuisance by flooding the area with large shipments of opioids. Further, the judge ruled that the plaintiffs could not seek relief for abating the damages from the Opioid Crisis.

On November 10, 2021, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Whitley of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of North Carolina, issued an order transferring claims against Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) related to its talc-based products to a federal court in New Jersey where the multidistrict litigation, In re: Johnson and Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability, is currently pending.

On October 25, 2021, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Craig Whitley of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Western District of North Carolina, issued an order instructing a Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) subsidiary to show cause why the case “should not be transferred to another judicial district where venue is proper.”

On October 25, 2021, parties in the Zantac MDL participated in a court conference via Zoom to present to Judge Robin L. Rosenberg of the Southern District of Florida a proposed joint plan for selection of bellwether cases in the Zantac litigation. Plaintiffs in the litigations all similarly allege that they developed cancer after taking the heartburn drug.

On September 21, 2021, attorneys for Turnbull and Lake Counties filed a bench brief asking Northern District of Ohio Judge Dan Aaron Polster to exclude 39 potential jurors from the upcoming bellwether trial in the opioid litigation because they have not been vaccinated against COVID-19.

In the brief, the plaintiffs argue that allowing unvaccinated jurors on the jury will likely cause disruptions during the proceedings and an increased risk of a mistrial.

On August 26, 2019, Oklahoma state court Judge Thad Balkman found Johnson & Johnson (“J&J”) responsible for causing the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and ordered that J&J must pay $572 million to repair the damage. This ruling comes almost six weeks after the conclusion of a seven-week bench trial, where state attorneys successfully proved J&J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., created a public nuisance by overstating the benefits of narcotic painkillers while downplaying the risk for addiction.

In the mass tort realm, 2018 proved to be a year of high-volume verdicts and settlements coupled with highly publicized cases. As the year comes to a close, here is a look back at some of the noteworthy cases that saw significant developments over the past 12 months. 

Although filed separately, the wives of Thomas Walsh and Joseph Roman are the latest to officially accuse Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceuticals of concealing life threatening risks associated with the use of their blood thinner, Xarelto. On July 10,2017 in New York State court, the couples filed claims alleging negligence, strict products liability, breach of warranties, fraudulent misrepresentation, fraudulent concealment, negligent misrepresentation and fraud and deceit, and are seeking compensatory damages.