{"id":994685,"date":"2021-11-10T14:14:41","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=994685"},"modified":"2021-11-10T14:14:45","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T19:14:45","slug":"oklahoma-supreme-court-reverses-johnson-johnson-opioid-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oklahoma-supreme-court-reverses-johnson-johnson-opioid-decision\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma Supreme Court Reverses Johnson &#038; Johnson Opioid Decision"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Foklahoma-supreme-court-reverses-johnson-johnson-opioid-decision%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=994685&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p class=\"p1\">Oklahoma\u2019s Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a previous major ruling against the drug company Johnson &amp; Johnson.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">As <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/580817-oklahoma-supreme-court-overturns-historic-opioid-verdict-against-johnson\">reported<\/a> by The Hill, \u201cThe 5-1 decision reversed a district court\u2019s $465 million judgement against Johnson &amp; Johnson for its role in the state\u2019s opioid epidemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">In 2019, the company was told to pay the large sum of money to essentially cover a year\u2019s worth of initiatives and treatment.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cCleveland County Judge Thad Balkman found Johnson &amp; Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals liable under Oklahoma\u2019s public nuisance statute for conducting \u2018false, misleading, and dangerous marketing campaigns\u2019 about prescription opioids that helped lead to thousands of overdose deaths,\u201d the outlet added.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As NPR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2021\/11\/09\/1054000996\/oklahoma-supreme-court-465-million-opioid-ruling\">noted<\/a>, in 2019, Balkman \u201cruled in favor of the legal argument that J&amp;J created a \u2018public nuisance\u2019 through its marketing of prescription pain pills.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">For Johnson &amp; Johnson\u2019s part, the drugmaker <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/johnson-johnson-opioid-verdict-overturned-by-oklahoma-supreme-court-11636481699\">reportedly<\/a> said that its Janssen pharmaceutical group acted \u201crelating to the marketing and promotion of these important prescription pain medications were appropriate and responsible and did not cause a public nuisance.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Johnson &amp; Johnson also discussed the complicated problem of the opioid crisis, saying, \u201cWe have deep sympathy for everyone affected.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Thousands of lawsuits have been filed by other states, local jurisdictions, and Native American tribes arguing that the pharmaceutical business participated in fueling the opioid epidemic.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Oklahoma Attorney General John O\u2019Connor said his team is looking into other action after the ruling on Tuesday.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cI am disappointed,\u201d Mr. O\u2019Connor said. \u201cWe are still pursuing our other pending claims against opioid distributors who have flooded our communities with these highly addictive drugs for decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The majority opinion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/articles\/johnson-johnson-opioid-verdict-overturned-by-oklahoma-supreme-court-11636481699\">stated<\/a>, \u201cThe district court stepping into the shoes of the legislature by creating and funding government programs designed to address social and health issues goes too far\u2026This Court defers the policy-making to the legislative and executive branches and rejects the unprecedented expansion of public nuisance law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cIn reaching this decision, we do not minimize the severity of the harm that thousands of Oklahoma citizens have suffered because of opioids. However grave the problem of opioid addiction is in Oklahoma, public nuisance law does not provide a remedy for this harm,\u201d Justice James Winchester <a href=\"https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/healthcare\/580817-oklahoma-supreme-court-overturns-historic-opioid-verdict-against-johnson?rl=1\">reportedly<\/a> wrote for the majority.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">\u201cA product manufacturer\u2019s responsibility is to put a lawful, non-defective product into the market. There is no common law tort duty to monitor how a consumer uses or misuses a product after it is sold,\u201d Winchester wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The justices also stated the decision by the lower<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oklahoma\u2019s Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a previous major ruling against the drug company Johnson &#038; Johnson.\u00a0As reported by The Hill, \u201cThe 5-1 decision reversed a district court\u2019s $465 million judgement against Johnson &#038; Johnson for its role in the state\u2019s opioid epidemic.\u201dIn 2019, the company was told to pay the large sum of money to essentially cover a year\u2019s worth of initiatives and treatment.\u00a0\u201cCleveland County Judge Thad Balkman found Johnson &#038; Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals liable under Oklahoma\u2019s public nuisance statute for conducting \u2018false, misleading, and dangerous marketing campaigns\u2019 about prescription opioids that helped lead to thousands of overdose deaths,\u201d the outlet added.\u00a0As NPR noted, in 2019, Balkman \u201cruled in favor of the legal argument that J&#038;J created a \u2018public nuisance\u2019 through its marketing of prescription pain pills.\u201dFor Johnson &#038; Johnson\u2019s part, the drugmaker reportedly said that its Janssen pharmaceutical group acted \u201crelating to the marketing and promotion of these important prescription pain medications were appropriate and responsible and did not cause a public nuisance.\u201dJohnson &#038; Johnson also discussed the complicated problem of the opioid crisis, saying, \u201cWe have deep sympathy for everyone affected.\u201dThousands of lawsuits have been filed by other states, local jurisdictions, and Native American tribes arguing that the pharmaceutical business participated in fueling the opioid epidemic.\u00a0Oklahoma Attorney General John O\u2019Connor said his team is looking into other action after the ruling on Tuesday.\u00a0\u201cI am disappointed,\u201d Mr. O\u2019Connor said. \u201cWe are still pursuing our other pending claims against opioid distributors who have flooded our communities with these highly addictive drugs for decades.\u201dThe majority opinion stated, \u201cThe district court stepping into the shoes of the legislature by creating and funding government programs designed to address social and health issues goes too far\u2026This Court defers the policy-making to the legislative and executive branches and rejects the unprecedented expansion of public nuisance law.\u201d\u201cIn reaching this decision, we do not minimize the severity of the harm that thousands of Oklahoma citizens have suffered because of opioids. However grave the problem of opioid addiction is in Oklahoma, public nuisance law does not provide a remedy for this harm,\u201d Justice James Winchester reportedly wrote for the majority.\u201cA product manufacturer\u2019s responsibility is to put a lawful, non-defective product into the market. There is no common law tort duty to monitor how a consumer uses or misuses a product after it is sold,\u201d Winchester wrote.The justices also stated the decision by the lower court would get rid of the conventional structures\u00a0on nuisance liability.\u201cWithout these limitations, businesses have no way to know whether they might face nuisance liability for manufacturing, marketing, or selling products, i.e., will a sugar manufacturer or the fast food industry be liable for obesity, will an alcohol manufacturer be liable for psychological harms, or will a car manufacturer be liable for health hazards from lung disease to dementia or for air pollution,\u201d Winchester wrote.According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost \u201c841,000 people have died since 1999 from a drug overdose.[\u2026]Over 70% of drug overdose deaths in 2019 involved an opioid.\u201d\u00a0The COVID-19 pandemic created even more of a problem for those struggling with opioid addiction as traditional treatment methods were not as readily available.\u00a0As reported by the American Academy of Family Physicians, a July\u00a0Vital Statistics Rapid Release from the CDC\u2019s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) \u201creported that in 2020, drug overdose deaths in the United States increased by nearly 30% over the previous year, reaching an all-time high of more than 93,000.\u201d\u201cOverdose deaths from synthetic opioids (primarily fentanyl) and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine also increased in 2020 compared to 2019. Cocaine deaths also increased in 2020, as did deaths from natural and semi-synthetic opioids (such as prescription pain medication),\u201d the NCHS said in a statement.\u201cThis is the highest number of overdose deaths ever recorded in a 12-month period, and the largest increase since at least 1999,\u201d said Nora Volkow, M.D., director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, in a statement.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-994685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=994685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/994685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=994685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=994685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=994685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}