Goodbye Negotiation Class

The opioid litigation world received a bit of juicy news today. The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling decertifying the federal opioid multi-district litigation’s novel negotiation class, which “[a]s envisioned” would have facilitated settlements with big pharma opioid companies by requiring proposed settlement offers to be approved by 75% of the 33,000 cities and counties participating as class members (Law360). The novel class was intended to provide localities a voice in global settlement negotiations, which have largely favored the demands of states’ Attorneys General.

“While companies did not need to use the negotiation class to settle cases, many, including the drug distributors McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc.[,] and AmerisourceBergen Corp, objected. Many state attorneys general also argued that Polster’s ruling could complicate settlement talks and interfere with states’ rights over their political subdivisions” (Reuters).

Without the negotiation class, “it looks likely that the litigation will drag on for years to come,” and “probable that various groups will strike ‘piecemeal’ deals as the litigation progresses” (Law360).

Check out the Global Settlement Tracker for future settlement news.