NORMAN, Okla. (CN) – In the first opioid crisis lawsuit against drugmakers to reach verdict, a judge awarded Oklahoma $572 million Monday after finding the state successfully proved Johnson & Johnson created a public nuisance by aggressively pushing the drugs to doctors.
Cleveland County Judge Thad Balkman said Oklahoma met its burden proving “the defendant’s misleading marketing and promotion of opioids created a nuisance” resulting in a “public health crisis that must be abated immediately.”
The 42-page judgment concludes the marketing was commercial in nature, rejecting arguments for protected speech under the First Amendment. Balkman said Johnson & Johnson was told by their own experts that marketing opioids on their abuse potential was dangerous.
“They were told that the data they cited did not support their claims before they made them, and then again by the FDA after they had already started spreading that misleading message,” the judge wrote. “They knew the studies they were citing were incomplete, unsound, or fraught with misrepresentations. The defendants’ sales reps delivered those messages, and as the call notes and the sales trends demonstrate, Oklahoma physicians were influenced by the misleading messages defendants were delivering.”
Balkman’s ruling will have far-reaching implications as other state and local governments grapple with the opioid addition crisis. The bellwether trial was the first of approximately 2,000 opioid cases filed against drugmakers in federal and state courts nationwide. Over 1,400 of the federal cases have been consolidated in Ohio federal court, where the judge overseeing it has urged drugmakers to settle with state and local government plaintiffs.
Monday’s verdict comes one full month after the seven-week-long trial ended. Balkman said the $572 million award is meant to fund the immediate remediation of the nuisance, and punted to state lawmakers for further action.
“Whether more programs will be needed over time will be the determination of our politicians,” he said. “This is what the court can do at this time.”
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter told reporters the drugmaker “will finally be held responsible for thousands of deaths” that “left broken homes, families and communities” in the state.
“Our team proved the company used pseudoscience and misleading information to lead to the worst manmade public nuisance this country and this state has ever seen,” he said.
Hunter directly addressed Johnson & Johnson chief executive officer Alex Gorsky, citing the company’s participation in the Business Roundtable – an entity that last week tried to redefine the purpose of a corporation to include a “more inclusive prosperity” as opposed to just enriching shareholders.
“I challenge him to put his money where his mouth is and open his checkbook to pay this judgment,” Hunter said.
Johnson & Johnson said it will appeal the verdict and “is confident it has strong grounds to appeal.”
Defense attorney Sabrina Strong told reporters the company is “disappointed and disagrees” with the verdict.
“We have sympathy for all who suffer from substance abuse, but Johnson & Johnson did not cause the opioid abuse crisis in Oklahoma or this country,” she said.
Strong called the verdict a “radical departure” from case law.
Johnson & Johnson general counsel Michael Ullman said the verdict “disregards 100 years of precedent in public nuisance law.”