December 19, 2018
An Ohio federal judge on Wednesday cleared a bellwether suit in the multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis to move forward, largely signing off on a magistrate judge's recommendation.
December 18, 2018
The past year was a lively one on the multidistrict litigation docket as major MDLs over the opiate crisis and the Equifax data breach got up and running, while cases concerning a Monsanto weedkiller and a common hospital technology revved for early bellwether trials.
December 06, 2018
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation on Thursday denied a request from plaintiffs representing "opioid babies" — infants of mothers who were addicted to prescription drugs — to separate their suits into a distinct multidistrict litigation, ruling that their unique damages don't outweigh the inconvenience caused by such a separation.
December 04, 2018
An Ohio federal judge on Tuesday refused nearly two dozen Indian tribes' request to conduct further discovery of federal contracts so they can avoid being treated disparately from government entities in an ongoing opioid multidistrict litigation, ruling that the court has already identified cases that discuss the tribes' legal issues.
November 29, 2018
The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation appeared disinclined Thursday to create a new MDL for "opioid babies" whose mothers used prescription narcotics, sharply questioning whether such a move would actually expedite the infants' suits.
November 21, 2018
A federal judge has shot down a bid from drug companies that sought to block local Ohio governments with bellwether cases in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis from being able to recover damages at trial.
November 09, 2018
The Ohio federal judge overseeing massive multidistrict litigation over the nation's opioid crisis granted a request by lead attorneys for local governments to distribute market share data, from a federal database, of opioid sales to counties and other entities.
November 07, 2018
Lead attorneys for local governments suing over the opioid crisis on Wednesday told the Ohio federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation that since the U.S. Department of Justice does not oppose releasing market share data from a federal database of opioid sales, opioid makers and distributors have no grounds to oppose it either.
November 05, 2018
Opioid distributors have asked the Ohio federal judge overseeing the opioid multidistrict litigation to have the Ohio Supreme Court weigh in on whether the state's product liability laws annul negligence and public nuisance claims against a supplier of products.
November 02, 2018
Local Ohio governments with bellwether cases in multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis have "willfully defied" a court order to identify allegedly improper prescriptions and should be blocked from recovering damages at trial, drug companies have told an Ohio federal judge.