Groundbreaking Opioid Settlement Reached with Opioid Manufacturer and National Opioid Distributors

CLEVELAND, Oct. 25, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- As opening statements were about to be made Monday morning in the first Cleveland Federal Court trial in the Nationwide Opioid litigation brought on behalf of more than 2000 cities in counties against drug manufacturers, distributors, and retail pharmacy chains, the bellwether plaintiffs (Cuyahoga and Summit County, Ohio) announced a settlement with McKesson, Amerisource Bergan, Cardinal Health, and Teva to settle the claims of those two counties for $260 Million. Added to prior settlements, these two counties will receive more than $320 Million cash together with a supply of medical assistance drugs used to treat addiction. The settlement proceeds will be utilized exclusively to abate the opioid epidemic in those two counties. The parties announced that this settlement could be used to stimulate a nationwide resolution of this litigation. The Spangenberg Team of Peter Weinberger, William Hawal, Jeremy Tor, and Dustin Herman with the able assistance of mass tort coordinator Sheila Schebek and Technology manager Alex McLaughlin were involved in preparing this case for trial with a team of hundreds of lawyers from the 21 law firm Plaintiffs' Executive Committee Team. 

Peter Weinberger of Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP served as trial counsel for the trial representing two Ohio counties against five Big Pharma defendants for damages brought on by the opioid epidemic. This would have led to the first federal trial related to damages caused by the opioid epidemic, but the pharmaceutical defendants involved in the dispute rushed to settle before the trial could begin.

"This settlement will have an immediate impact on funding county programs designed to abate the opioid epidemic. For example, it will provide addiction treatment in the form of behavioral rehabilitation and medically assisted treatment directly to patients. It will treat babies exposed to opioids during pregnancy who are born with neonatal abstinence syndrome," Mr. Weinberger said.

Renowned Houston trial lawyer, Mark Lanier of the Lanier Law Firm served as the lead trial counsel, and Peter Weinberger joined him as counsel along Hunter Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik and Don Migliori of Motley Rice. According to Attorney Lanier, "The trail of documents and testimony we assembled clearly showed conspiratorial corporate behavior that promoted the abuse of and addiction to these dangerous drugs."

Not only are these settlement funds telling of the Big Pharma's deadly role in this damaging epidemic, but it will also serve a more practical purpose by immediately providing support to those affected by the opioid epidemic.

To learn more about this settlement contact us at Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP by visiting spanglaw.com.

SOURCE Spangenberg Shibley & Liber LLP

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