Companies, Ohio counties reach $260 million settlement over opioid crisis

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Posted: October 22, 2019

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See the full CNN story here.

Four pharmaceutical companies have reached a $260 million settlement in response to the national opioid epidemic.

The settlement, announced on Oct. 21, was reached on the eve of a first-of-its-kind federal trial, CNN reports.

The settlement totaling $260 million was reached between four companies — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. — and plaintiffs, Summit and Cuyahoga counties in Ohio, the news site reports.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, according to U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster.

Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson reached a tentative settlement in Ohio in response to a federal lawsuit over the nation’s opioid epidemic, agreeing to pay $10 million to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, Ohio, as well as reimburse $5 million in legal fees and donate $5.4 million for opioid-related programs.

Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $10 million to two Ohio counties

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Posted: October 15, 2019

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Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals manufactured opioids and Johnson & Johnson also owned two companies that processed and imported the raw material used to manufacture oxycodone, a highly addictive opioid, shown above. Photo credit: www.drugs.com.

Johnson & Johnson has reached a tentative settlement in Ohio in response to a federal lawsuit over the nation’s opioid epidemic, The Washington Post reports.

The health-care giant will pay $10 million to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, Ohio, as well as reimburse $5 million in legal fees and donate $5.4 million for opioid-related programs in the communities, The Post reports.

The case was brought by more than 2,500 counties, cities and Native American tribes.

In August, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay the state of Oklahoma $572 million in the first opioid-related state case to go to trial.

Cleveland County (Okla.) District Judge Thad Balkman found the pharmaceutical company responsible for the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, one of more than 40 states waging lawsuits, The Washington Post reports.

An estimated 400,000 people have died of overdoses from painkillers, heroin and illegal fentanyl since 1999.

Judge blocks new rules for detention of migrant children, parents

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Posted: September 30, 2019

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Dolly M. Gee, District Judge. Photo credit: Wikipedia

The Trump administration is barred by federal court order from enacting new rules aimed at detaining migrant children and their parents for longer periods of time.

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee issued the permanent injunction on Sept. 27 in the Central District of California, The Washington Post reports.

The Justice Department had argued for withdrawal from a 1997 federal consent decree setting basic standards for detaining migrant children.

“The decree includes a 20-day limit for holding children in detention facilities that have not been licensed by the states for the purpose of caring for minors,” The Post reports.

Federal regulators issued new regulations in August seeking to terminate the settlement and remove the 20-day limit, The Post reports.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to be heard in Sandy Hook case

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Posted: September 27, 2019

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Radio host and conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones. Photo credit: Wikipedia.

According to the Hartford Courant, lawyers for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones went to the state Supreme Court Thursday “to challenge a court order in a case where families from Sandy Hook Elementary School are suing him, saying the radio host claimed the school shooting was a hoax.”

The lawyer for Alex Jones argued in the Connecticut Supreme Court that he “should not have been penalized for an angry outburst on his Infowars web show against an attorney for relatives of some of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims,” reports the Associated Press.

The AP report explains, “The families of eight victims of the 2012 shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, and an FBI agent who responded to the massacre are suing Jones, Infowars, and others for promoting a theory that the shooting was a hoax. A 20-year-old gunman killed 20 first-graders, six educators and himself at the school, after having killed his mother at their Newtown home. The families said they have been subjected to harassment and death threats from Jones’ followers because of the hoax conspiracy.”

Trump vows to revoke waiver allowing California to set auto emissions

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Posted: September 18, 2019

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Photo credit: Damian Dovarganes/AP as reported by NPR on 9/18/19.

President Trump announced he will revoke a 2013 waiver issued by the EPA to the California Air Resources Board which allowed the state to set stricter air-quality standards than those imposed on the federal level.

According to an NPR report, “The move comes after the Department of Justice earlier this month launched an antitrust investigation into a July deal between California and four automakers – Ford, Volkswagen, Honda and BMW – and is seen as a broader effort by the White House to rollback efforts to combat climate change.”

The report notes, “California’s Attorney General Xavier Becerra has vowed to take the Trump administration to court. Speaking on Tuesday, California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom said that while the White House ‘has abdicated its responsibility,’ his state ‘has stepped up.'”

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