Big Tobacco's Big Settlement: What Pharmaceutical Companies Can Learn to Protect Themselves in Opioid Litigation
![handle is hein.journals/branlaj60 and id is 167 raw text is: BIG TOBACCO'S BIG SETTLEMENT: WHAT
PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES CAN LEARN TO
PROTECT THEMSELVES IN OPIOID LITIGATION
Mason A. Leichhardt*
I. INTRODUCTION
In 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported
that an average of forty-one adults died each day from prescription related
opioid overdoses.1 That amounts to nearly fifteen thousand people dying
from an opioid prescription overdose in the United States alone, which does
not include illegal narcotics like fentanyl or heroin.2 With such a staggering
amount of deaths from prescription opioids alone, it leads one to wonder
where liability sits in relation to these deaths. The answer is complicated and
currently being litigated.
Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, recently reached a
settlement of $8.34 billion in connection with ongoing investigations
regarding their liability in the opioid crisis.3 Subsequently, Purdue Pharma
filed for bankruptcy protection in September 2019 in an effort to halt
litigation after every state and nearly 2,600 cities filed lawsuits against the
company.4 However, Purdue Pharma is not the only defendant in the opioid
crisis.5 Recently, a judicial panel placed more than two thousand pending
claims before a single federal judge who will be responsible for guiding the
litigation process.6 The consolidated lawsuit is titled the National
The author would like to thank Mick McGraw for his time and contributions to this Note. He would
also like to thank Beth and his family for their immense support.
Ctrs. for Disease Control and Prevention, Overdose Death Maps, CDC,
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths/prescription/maps.html [https://perma.cc/A5U9-ZLHF] (last
visited Nov. 1, 2020).
2 Id.
s Sara Randazzo, Purdue Pharma Reaches $8.34 Billion Settlement Over Opioid Probes, WALL
STREET JOURNAL (Oct. 21, 2020, 5:10 PM), https://www.wsj.com/articles/purdue-pharma-reaches-8-34-
billion-settlement-over-opioid-probes-11603292613 [https://perma.cc/B75Z-XP9M].
' Sara Randazzo & Jared S. Hopkins, OxyContin Maker Purdue Pharma Files for Bankruptcy Protection,
WALL STREET JOURNAL (Sept. 16, 2019, 12:06 AM), https://www.wsj.com/articles/oxycontin-maker-purdue-
pharma-files-for-bankruptcy-protection-11568604141 [https://perma.cc/GXQ8-WVBS].
s Colin Dwyer, Your Guide to the Massive (and Massively Complex) Opioid Litigation, NPR (Oct.
15, 2019, 9:05 AM), https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/10/15/761537367/your-guide-to-
the-massive-and-massively-complex-opioid-litigation [https://perma.cc/KF5J-MWV3].
6 Id.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/branlaj60&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Big Tobacco's Big Settlement: What Pharmaceutical Companies Can Learn to Protect Themselves in Opioid Litigation
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