Along with OxyContin, oxycodone and prescription opioid drugs led to a swath of addictions with a wide variety of personal, family, governmental and economic implications. State, local and tribal governments faced increased crime and costs as addicts sought prescription opioids. Individuals faced injuries and deaths in their families from prescription opioid addiction and its side effects. Eventually, these costs led to lawsuits against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma, its partners, subsidiaries and distributors.

What Are Prescription Opioid Lawsuits?

Addiction to prescription opioid drugs such as OxyContin, oxycodone and other opioid derivatives led to addictions that caused significant costs to state, municipal and county governments and personal injuries and wrongful deaths to individuals. Lawsuits arose from these incidents.

On January 17, 2003, OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma received a warning letter from the FDA regarding its sales efforts and advertisements with regard to Oxycontin. The advertisements never contained the drug’s box label warnings or potentially fatal side effects. They also never warned of the potential addiction risk.

On May 10, 2007, the company and three current and former executives pleaded guilty to misleading regulators, doctors, and patients about OxyContin’s risks, including addiction and drug misuse. The company paid $600 million in fines and restitution, and its executives (including its president and corporate counsel) paid $34.5 million in fines. Soon, affected parties started filing civil lawsuits.

Plaintiffs

By 2017, there were more than 2,000 pending lawsuits against Purdue and related companies. So, a judicial panel consolidated the actions in the Northern District of Ohio under Judge Dan Polster.

The plaintiffs included 2,500 cities, counties, tribal authorities and individuals. Similar to a class action lawsuit, these plaintiffs created a negotiation class to create a global settlement. States were not technically plaintiffs, but many state attorney generals weighed in during the proceedings.

Individual plaintiffs included those who suffered from prescription opioid addiction or lost a loved one to addiction.

Defendants

There are four primary groups of defendants in these lawsuits. They include:

  • OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma and its subsidiaries: These companies include Imbrium Therapeutics L.P., Adlon Therapeutics L.P., Greenfield BioVentures L.P., Avrio Health L.P., Rhodes Technologies, and Rhodes Pharmaceuticals L.P.
  • Other prescription opioid manufacturers: These include Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Other lawsuits and a bankruptcy are associated with an American-Irish company called Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals.
  • Distributors: Companies, medical clinics, and individual doctors faced claims for distributing the drug. This list is extensive, but larger entities included Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson.
  • Drug stores: Mainly Walmart, Walgreens and CVS.

Claims in Prescription Opioid Lawsuits

Drug manufacturers must warn if a product has possibly dangerous side effects. The law considers them the experts on their products, so it holds this duty to a high standard. It is also a continuing duty, meaning the company must warn of side effects as they discover them.

The plaintiffs’ allegations focused on this lack of warning. Their main claims against manufacturers and distributors include:

  • Aggressive marketing of prescription opioid medications such as OxyContin and oxycodone
  • Downplaying addiction and overdose risks associated with opioids
  • Failing to investigate or report suspicious repeat orders of opioids (mainly against drug stores)

Government agencies alleged that these actions placed significant social and financial burdens on their communities. Individuals claimed injuries or lost loved ones to wrongful death.

Injuries and Side Effects of Prescription Opioids

Companies’ marketing campaigns and misleading statements allowed more people to receive prescription opioids.

As prescribed, oxycodone and OxyContin are controlled-release tablets that treat pain over 12 hours. Daily use can result in physical dependence, which causes withdrawal illnesses if the patient stops the drug too suddenly. But when users bypass the time-release elements, they experience other effects of the drug, including euphoria and relaxation.

The ability to obtain prescription opioid drugs through legitimate means and with insurance coverage made it easier to access than in the past. Once secured, addicted users might chew tablets or crush and snort them like cocaine. Others may mix it with water and inject it like heroin.

In some cases, individuals may “doctor shop” or meet with doctors in different cities and states to maintain multiple prescriptions. A 2021 Canadian study found that 7.2% of participants were likely to “doctor shop,” and those who did were more than five times likely to experience an opioid overdose versus those who did not visit multiple doctors. In other incidents, pharmacy workers may sell it illegitimately or doctors may fraudulently prescribe the drug. For example, in 2022, a doctor, three pharmacists and four others were charged with illegally distributing more than 1.2 million oxycodone pills, according to the DEA.

All told, overdoses of both legal and illicit opioids caused more than 564,000 deaths from 1999 to 2020, according to the CDC.

Costs to Government Entities

Some addiction-related crimes involved robbery and burglary as people attempted to steal prescription opioids. Prescription opioids became a popular street drug, often called “OC,” “Oxy,” and “Oxys.” These street versions became especially dangerous if dealers laced the original drug with Fentanyl or heroin.

Prescription opioid addiction disparately impacted rural communities, some of which became overwhelmed with law enforcement and health care costs. According to the CDC, this crime and health crisis resulted in the following costs:

  • In 2017, the economic cost of the epidemic was estimated at $1.021 billion.
  • Of that amount, opioid use disorder cost $471 billion, and fatal opioid overdoses at $550 billion.
  • Costs varied between states, ranging from $985 million in Wyoming to $72,583 million in Ohio. Per capita, that ranged from $1,204 in Hawaii to $7,247 in West Virginia.
  • The most affected areas included the Ohio Valley and New England.

Who Can File a Prescription Opioid Lawsuit?

You can file a prescription opioid lawsuit if you believe you suffered addiction or other injuries from a prescription opioid product. You can also file a lawsuit if you lost a loved one to prescription opioid addiction.

When to File

You want to file as soon as you assess an injury or death from a prescription opioid drug. These cases fall under product liability, and you must file within your state’s statute of limitations.

Possible Defendants in an Opioid Lawsuit

OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma is protected under its Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The court froze all lawsuits against the company for now. Most personal injury attorneys aren’t taking claims regarding Purdue.

Other companies who have settled lawsuits for related drugs include Cardinal, McKesson, Johnson & Johnson, and AmerisourceBergen. The drugmaker, Mallinckrodt, completed Chapter 11 bankruptcy but hasn’t paid any individual claims.

Who Can Join a Prescription Opioid Class Action Lawsuit?

There are no pending class action lawsuits regarding prescription opioids at this time, and previous ones have already been settled. You may have grounds for an individual claim if you can trace your injuries to an opioid company and your state’s statute of limitations hasn’t expired.

Prescription Opioid Lawsuit Timetable

Personal injury lawsuits are time-consuming, especially if they involve prescription drugs. Those cases included heightened duty standards and investigation that will extend the typical personal injury lawsuit timetable. Your steps and timetable may vary, but the following shows how most of these lawsuits proceed.

Investigation

As mentioned above, these are complex cases. You likely won’t have time to navigate your claim yourself, so you need to hire an attorney with a background in prescription drug litigation.

After you hire your attorney, they will look into your case and gather facts. This process will likely include:

  • Ordering medical and drug treatment records
  • Determining possible liable parties, e.g., a manufacturer, pharmacy, doctor, etc.
  • Choosing a cause of action, usually product liability (against manufacturers) or medical malpractice (pharmacists or doctors)

Settlement Negotiations

Your attorney will attempt to settle your case out of court first. During this time, they will likely send the individual or company a statement describing what happened to you. This statement also includes a proposed settlement amount that considers medical costs, lost income and pain and suffering.

The company or individual will likely send this demand to their insurance company, who will contact your attorney through an adjuster. From there, settlement negotiations commence. The insurance company seeks to settle for the lowest amount while your attorney pursues fair compensation for you.

Lawsuit

If settlement negotiations are fruitless, your attorney will file a lawsuit in civil court. The lawsuit starts with a complaint that lists your claims and requests compensation. The defendant will file an answer denying your claims or damages amount.

Discovery

Discovery is a document exchange process. The party you sue will request your medical records, treatment notes, and any evidence of lost wages. They may also inquire about your pain and suffering damages and ask for statements, testimony, or other evidence.

Trial

Before you go to trial, the court will likely set a pre-trial conference. This conference examines whether a settlement is possible and whether you and the defendant can agree. If not, your case proceeds to trial.

Trials can take a few days to several weeks. It depends on how many witnesses are involved and the complexity of the evidence. Both sides will likely hire expert witnesses who will take
more time to testify. Your attorney will likely use visual aids to drive your point home.

You also don’t know how long jury deliberations will last. It’s not uncommon in complex cases for juries to take up to two weeks to decide. However, in most cases, juries may deliberate and decide within one to three days.

Prescription Opioid Lawsuit Settlements

There have been several settlements involving prescription opioids:

  • Johnson & Johnson Oklahoma case: Oklahoma pursued $17.5 billion in damages after accusing Johnson & Johnson of deceptive marketing campaigns. The court awarded the state $572 million in 2019, but in 2021, the case was overturned by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
  • Distributor settlement: On July 21, 2021, a bipartisan group of attorneys general settled a distributor lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, and McKesson. The deal was worth $26 billion.
  • Purdue Pharma settlement: Purdue Pharma remains in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, but settlements continue to process. One finalized on March 3, 2022, paid $6 billion to help communities handle widespread opioid addiction. When Purdue filed for Chapter 11, 138,000 individuals filed claims for wrongful death, addiction expenses, or injuries sustained by babies exposed to opioids from pregnancy.
  • Florida Walgreens settlement: Walgreens settled claims filed by the State of Florida for $683 million. The settlement includes $63 million in attorney fees and $620 million paid out over 18 years.
  • Teva Pharmaceuticals settlement: Another opioid manufacturer, Teva, settled claims with state, local, and tribal governments for its role in the opioid epidemic. It contributed $4.25 billion to settle lawsuits and fund opioid addiction resources.
  • Ohio drug store case: A federal court ordered CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart to pay $650.6 million to Lake and Trumbull counties in Ohio. A jury ruled that drug stores played a significant role in opioid addiction.

The proceeds from these settlements helped government entities pay for health care and law enforcement associated with prescription opioid addiction. However, consumer litigants benefit little from these settlements.

Note: This article was updated for clarity on Feb. 3, 2023.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What damages can you receive in a prescription opioid lawsuit settlement?

What is the statute of limitations in a prescription opioid lawsuit?

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