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J&J Settles New York Opioid Suits for $263 Million
Jef Feeley
(Bloomberg) -- Johnson & Johnson said it agreed to pay $263 million to resolve opioid lawsuits filed in New York, settling the cases on the eve of the first U.S. jury trial over claims the company mishandled the highly addictive painkillers.
The settlement resolves complaints brought by New York State Attorney General Letitia James and two Long Island counties that were set to go to trial next week. In a statement Saturday, the company said the deal is consistent with a $5 billion settlement proposal it made last year to resolve all its opioid liability. The global deal has yet to be finalized.
“The dollar amount to be received by the state is the pro-rated share it would have received under the broader agreement in principle, which will be deducted from the all-in settlement amount,” the company said. J&J’s Janssen unit stopped making opioid painkillers last year. The company denied any wrongdoing.
James’ office said in a separate statement that the settlement would provide $230 million to New York municipalities. That figure didn’t include legal fees and costs that J&J factored into its final tally, said Fabian Levy, a spokesman for James.
The deal doesn’t affect a current California non-jury trial in which J&J is among a group of opioid makers accused of illegally marketing opioids to wrongfully reap billions in profits, the people added. The trial is expected to last at least another month.More than a half-dozen opioid manufacturers, including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, distributors such as McKesson Corp. and pharmacy providers such as Walgreens Boots Alliance, still face New York’s claims they wrongfully reaped billions peddling the painkillers by illegally marketing them or turning a blind eye to suspiciously large orders. Opening arguments in the case are slated to start Tuesday in Central Islip, New York.
States, cities and counties have sued J&J, McKesson and other opioid-industry players over their roles in fueling the U.S. opioid epidemic, which has claimed the lives of nearly 500,000 Americans over the last 20 years.
The New York case is In Re Opioid Litigation, Index no. 40000/2017, Supreme Court of New York, Suffolk County.