The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the state’s product liability law prohibits counties from bringing public nuisance claims against national pharmaceutical chains as they did as part of national opioid litigation, a decision that could overturn a against the pharmacies.
An attorney for the counties called the decision “devastating.”
Justices were largely unanimous in their interpretation of an arcane disagreement over the state law, which had emerged in a lawsuit brought by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.
The counties won their initial lawsuit — and were awarded $650 million