Associated Press: Oklahoma Court Overturns $465M Opioid Ruling Against J&J
November 9, 2021
The Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a US$465 million opioid ruling against Johnson & Johnson, concluding that a lower court misinterpreted the state’s public nuisance law. The 5-1 decision ruled that US District Judge Thad Balkman was wrong in finding J&J violated public nuisance law in the first case of its kind to go to trial in the United States. “J&J had no control of its products through the multiple levels of distribution, including after it sold the opioids to distributors and wholesalers, which were then disbursed to pharmacies, hospitals, and physicians’ offices, and then prescribed by doctors to patients,” the decision read.
(O’Melveny serves as lead trial counsel for Johnson & Johnson in this matter.)
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