by Steve Milloy, E&E Legal Senior Policy Fellow and Junkscience.com Founder
As appearing in the Washington Times
Expanding the doctrine of public nuisance outside its traditional bounds
Hard cases make bad laws. We are now watching the truth of that adage in real-time in opioid litigation proceedings in Ohio.
Federal Judge Dan Polster, a Clinton-appointed judge with senior or semi-retired status, was assigned to handle the massive National Prescription Opiate litigation involving thousands of lawsuits against opiate makers and pharmacies.
It’s large and complex litigation in which Judge Polster is going out of his way to force the pharmacy defendants into settling.
Judge Polster already seems to have condemned the pharmacies ominously, suggesting they offer up a settlement on the order of $26 billion or face ruination in court. “Everyone knows the dollar amounts the [manufacturers] are paying,” Judge Polster said. “It seems to me, that’s the benchmark.”
