A $2.5 billion settlement with opioid painkiller makers is in the works for drug makers.
But who is the winner?
WSJ’s John R. Lott reports on the settlement and what’s next.
Read more…
What you need as a lawyer in the opioid litigation business: Opioid lawyers typically charge around $200,000 per case.
Some have seen that number double or even triple in recent years.
The settlement includes a payment of $400 million to opioid painkillers makers, but it doesn’t include any of the $1.2 trillion in damages that companies must pay to the Justice Department, the Department of Veterans Affairs or the federal government.
How the case works: The Justice Department is suing the manufacturers for negligence in their marketing of OxyContin and other opioid painkilling products.
The companies are suing to collect a share of the money that the government owes them for treating people who were addicted to opioids and dying of their addiction.
The Justice’s claim is that OxyContin is a Schedule III drug, which is classified as a controlled substance by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, a classification that allows the U,S.
government to impose sanctions on companies that manufacture drugs like OxyContin.
This is what you need from a lawyer.
A class action lawsuit is the next step.
It’s a type of class action that involves multiple people who claim that their painkiller products were a contributing factor in their deaths.
The attorneys are asking the court to set aside the government’s case against the companies, and instead award damages to each person.
It could also lead to a settlement of the case in a class action.
In the meantime, the companies are appealing to the Supreme Court.
What happens next: The lawsuit is pending in the U