Judge bumps OC opioid trial to June 2020

An Orange County judge on Thursday postponed trial in the longstanding opioid case by two months to accommodate the complex case's lengthy discovery and expert witness disclosures.

Erin Bernstein, an Oakland senior deputy city attorney, said the previous April 22, 2020 trial date was reasonable with "a lot of long hours," but Superior Court Judge Peter J. Wilson was dubious.

"It's still my preference to try this case as soon as possible. ... But there's also a blunt reality to when this case can be actually be ready," Wilson said. "I want to set dates that are realistic." He calendared it for June 29,

Still, he acknowledged the new case schedule "is only realistic if the parties continue to make it so."

"It is absolutely going to be essential for both sides to cooperate fully on all aspects," the judge said.

Attorneys already met with discovery referee Stephen G. Larson of Larson O'Brien LLP, who recommended a July 27 potential trial date and called the April date "not practicable."

Defense attorney Michael G. Yoder, who wanted an Aug. 31 date, called Larson's pick "aggressive" and said it requires "cooperation from both parties, and we've not seen that cooperation to this point in time."

Yoder, a partner with O'Melveny Myers LLP, is representing Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals. He estimated the bench trial will take 30 to 45 days. He said the public nuisance and false advertising case differs from usual public nuisance cases because "the nuisance here is impact on virtually every function of government." People v. Purdue Pharma, et al. (O.C. Super. Ct., filed May 21, 2014).

Yoder said the issue of causation could be decided through summary judgment "because we think that the plaintiffs are going to have a difficult if not impossible time proving that there was a nuisance created by misrepresentations that were made by the plaintiffs."

Filed in 2014, the case was the first against opioid manufacturers that are now engulfed in litigation across the country. Orange and Santa Clara counties initiated it on behalf of the state of California. Los Angeles County and the city of Oakland joined last year. Robins Kaplan LLP attorneys moved to coordinate it with new cases they filed on behalf of El Monte and Kern County, but Judge William D. Claster last month kept the case separate.

Claster instead coordinated the El Monte and Kern actions with a new state action in Los Angeles County Superior Court that names as defendants members of Purdue Pharma's founding Sackler family. People v. Purdue Pharma, LP, et al., 19STCV19045 (L.A. Super. Ct., filed June 3, 2019).

A status conference in that case is scheduled for Nov. 18 before Judge William F. Highberger in Los Angeles.