4 drugmakers seek to cement Orange County opioid win

Setting the stage for an appeal, four drug companies accused of fueling the opioid crisis in California submitted a final statement of decision, seeking to cement an Orange County judge's tentative ruling in their favor.

In a tentative bench ruling handed down earlier this month, Orange County Judge Peter Wilson said he would not make four opioid manufacturers pay $52 billion to abate the state's opioid crisis. Immediately afterward, members of a Plaintiffs' Executive Committee, which collectively represents plaintiffs in some 3,000 lawsuits filed nationwide, vowed to appeal the decision.

"The people of California will have their opportunity to pursue justice on appeal and ensure no opioid manufacturer can engage in reckless corporate practices that compromise public health in the state for their own profit," the plaintiffs' committee said in a statement.

Filed in 2014, the lawsuit accuses Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Allergan PLC of fueling an opioid crisis in the state by downplaying risks of addiction in their marketing.

The plaintiffs committee worked alongside the offices of the Santa Clara County counsel, Orange County district attorney, Los Angeles County counsel, and Oakland city attorney to bring claims under false advertising, public nuisance, and unfair competition laws. People v. Purdue Pharma et al., 14- 00725287 (Orange Super. Ct., filed May 21, 2014).

The drug companies' statement, which appears to be a word for word copy of Wilson's tentative ruling, was filed at 9:41 p.m. on Tuesday night. Earlier that day, a federal jury in Ohio found pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreens and Walmart liable for fueling the opioid crisis, signaling a shift in the national opioid litigation that saw two defense verdicts this month.

The Oklahoma Supreme court, in a 5-1 ruling on Nov. 9, overturned a $465 million opioid ruling against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson, finding that a lower court wrongly interpreted the state's public nuisance law.

Similarly, Wilson said the plaintiffs in Orange County failed to prove their public nuisance claims, finding that while the "interference with collective social interests" caused by the abuse of opioids is "substantial," the drug companies' contributions to that interference was not more than "negligible or theoretical."

Wilson further pointed out that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the California Legislature and the drug companies were fully aware of the drugs' potential for abuse but that the federal government, through the FDA and Drug Enforcement Administration, "at all material times approved of the defendants' respective opioid medications for their approved uses."

Among other rebukes, the plaintiffs' committee led by South Carolina attorney Joe Rice of Motley Rice LLP, said some of the defendant drug companies had committed discovery violations in other opioid lawsuits throughout the nation. The plaintiffs committee did not say Wednesday when it plans to file an appeal.