WILMINGTON, DELAWARE ¨C While some Johnson & Johnson investors were relieved that the company¡¯s $572 million penalty for fueling Oklahoma¡¯s opioid epidemic wasn¡¯t as high as feared, lawyers for other U.S. states, cities and counties could hardly contain their glee.
That¡¯s because the ruling by Oklahoma Judge Thad Balkman on Monday was the first affirmation in court of a high-risk legal strategy using public-nuisance laws to punish predatory drug marketing. More than 45 other states and 2,000 local governments are hoping to win billions of dollars in verdicts with the same arguments.
¡°Since all the other states and governments want to use their nuisance statutes against the opioid-makers and distributors, it¡¯s not good news for the companies that this judge found it was a valid theory,¡± said Richard Ausness, a University of Kentucky law professor who teaches about product liability.
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