Cleveland.com | Eric Heisig
A potential decision by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to file for bankruptcy could mean significant delays and complications for thousands of lawsuits accusing the company of significantly contributing to a wave of opioid-addicted deaths that ravaged communities in every corner of the country.
Such a move, which was first reported Monday morning by the Reuters wire service, could mean local and state governments with lawsuits pending before a federal judge in Cleveland would have to wait to try and claw back the billions spent in medical, law enforcement and social services over the past several years…
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who was in Washington, D.C. Monday along with other state attorneys general for a briefing with President Donald Trump, said in a statement that ““They don’t want to have to pay to clean up their mess, but we’re going to fight to make sure they do.”
The lawsuits claim drug manufacturers overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of addiction when treating pain with opioids, and that distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of painkillers.