These developments, however, are sufficiently inconsistent that it is difficult to predict where opioid-related lawsuits will land in 2022. In November 2021, back-to-back decisions by state courts in California and Oklahoma gave defendant pharmaceutical companies potentially significant victories. In Oklahoma, the court concluded that the state’s public nuisance statute could not be the basis for the claim. In California, the judge found that plaintiffs had not proved that the companies were responsible, and, thus, their actions constituted a public nuisance. Both decisions raise questions for the many cases in state and federal courts nationwide that are based on public nuisance claims.

Source: The Guardian January 13, 2022 22:47 UTC