Johnson & Johnson Avoids Opioid Lawsuit With Deal

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay roughly $20 million to avoid a federal trial that accused the company of mishandling its pills and fueling the opioid epidemic. Headlines such as this are popping up all around the U.S. as both federal and state governments sue major opioid distributors for the millions of dollars in public health services rendered to those who became addicted to the drugs. As part of the deal, Johnson & Johnson did not admit any wrongdoing.

Major opioid companies have taken a beating in the press lately. In Rochester, NY criminal indictments have been filed by the state against company executives. These executives are facing federal drug charges for the role they played in making their prescription medication available on the street. 

The State of Oklahoma recently won a $572 million lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson alleging that they illegally marketed their medication to doctors claiming it was less addictive than past incarnations. Indeed, this forms the basis for what many believe is a wide-scale epidemic that is destroying lives all across the country. 

All told, Johnson & Johnson is facing over 2000 lawsuits filed by states, cities, and counties that have absorbed the cost of treatment to those who were prescribed the drugs by doctors and could not kick the habit later. There are also thousands of civil lawsuits filed against the company by individuals.

Did Opioid Companies Fund Street Trade?

The crux of the lawsuits against opioid manufacturers is that they misrepresented the addictiveness of the drugs, marketing them to doctors as a safer alternative to already existing medication. That proved to be false and, on that basis, a failure to warn product liability lawsuit can be established. 

However, these companies are being accused of much more than simply exaggerating the efficacy of their medications. They are being accused of supplying drugs to pill mills. Of course, the companies claim they had no idea what the drugs were being used for once they shipped them out, but they were also filling orders that seemed unusually large and the government is accusing them of employing illegally lax standards when fulfilling orders. In this manner, pills made for pharmacies found their way onto the streets of major U.S. cities and significantly contributed to the death toll. 

Many of these places were small rural and suburban towns that were seeing shipments of hundreds of thousands of pills that far exceeded the needs of a smaller community.

Filing a Lawsuit Against an Opioid Company

If your life has been harmed by an addiction to opioids that you were prescribed by a doctor, you may have a claim against the company that manufactured those pills. There are many folks who lost their jobs, families, and eventually their lives due to opioid addiction. If you have lost a loved one due to his or her opioid addiction, you may also be able to sue the company that manufactured his or her prescription medication.

The attorneys at Lafferty, Gallagher, & Scott will file a claim on your behalf and document your journey to recovery or show how your loved one’s life was destroyed by the drugs. Call us today for a free consultation.