Opioid lawsuits

CVS would pay about $5 billion and Walgreens more than $5.5 billion, though neither company has admitted wrongdoing. States have until the end of the year to accept the terms of the settlement.

A federal jury says CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies didn’t do enough to stop the flow of opioid pills into Lake and Trumbull counties in Northeast Ohio; Ohio will join a growing number of states whose highway troopers are equipped with body cameras; COVID cases remain high across Ohio heading into the Thanksgiving holiday; and more stories.

Gonzalez, who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, will not seek reelection next year; Gov. Mike DeWine says more than 850 Afghan refugees will be arriving in Ohio and placed within eight local resettlement agencies; the COVID surge continues to gain strength in Ohio, with more than 8,300 new cases and 355 hospitalizations reported on Thursday; and more stories.

Ohio Attorney General says more municipalities must sign on for it to work.

Northeast Ohio local governments are weighing whether to join Attorney General Dave Yost’s One Ohio plan for dividing state opioid settlement money from drug companies. The proposal would create a statewide foundation, run by both state and local appointees, to distribute 55 percent of any settlement dollars. Another 30 percent would go directly to local governments. The attorney general’s office would receive 15 percent.

Legal battles over the opioid crisis will carry on into 2020, as several more cases begin to move toward trial in federal courts around the country. After overseeing thousands of opioid lawsuits from his Cleveland courtroom for the past two years, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster has begun sending cases to other federal judges. Polster has recommended that suits brought by the Cherokee Nation, city of Chicago and San Francisco be moved to federal courts in Oklahoma, Illinois and California.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster has added a new opioid trial to the calendar, this one litigating Cuyahoga and Summit counties’ claims against pharmacy chains. Polster, who is overseeing the thousands of opioid-related lawsuits, set a trial date of Oct. 13, 2020 in an order issued Tuesday. The two counties are amending their lawsuits to accuse pharmacies of failing to look out for suspicious prescriptions for opioid painkillers, with the judge’s approval.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine says he’s trying to unify elected officials and lawyers from cities and counties involved in opioid-related lawsuits. He wants to…

Eric Stimac’s path to addiction began with a work injury. Several years ago, he said, he was working a side job on a day off. “It was some stage flooring,” he said. “We were unloading off the back of a box truck, and it fell off of the lift gate and then landed on my foot and crushed my foot.” Stimac couldn’t walk for months. He was prescribed Oxycontin, then Percocet and eventually became addicted to the pills.

A group of drug companies is pushing for U.S. District Judge Dan Polster to recuse himself from the wide-reaching array of local government lawsuits over the opioid crisis, objecting to the judge’s push for settlements. Attorneys for Cardinal Health, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and other drug makers and distributors filed the motion Saturday morning in federal court in Cleveland.