As reported by Law360, on April 8, 2022, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer of the Northern District of California issued a ruling that Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Anda Inc. and other major pharmaceutical companies and distributors allegedly responsible for the manufacturing, transmission, and sale of dangerous, highly addictive and often lethal prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and fentanyl, cannot escape San Francisco’s claims in an upcoming bellwether bench trial via dismissal of the case.
In the current suit filed by Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel on behalf of the city and county of San Francisco, the defendants are accused of contributing in countless ways to San Francisco’s sky-high rate of opioid-involved overdose deaths and related law enforcement and healthcare costs. The lawsuit alleges these companies orchestrated a widespread fraud in which they made billions by deceptively marketing these drugs to the people of San Francisco while representing the drugs as safe and effective, creating thousands upon thousands of addicts.
Law360 notes that Judge Breyer denied summary judgment to the defendants over public nuisance and Unfair Competition Law claims, finding that they did in fact make false statements about the safety and risks of opioids, and that they failed to use systems to identify suspicious orders of opioids.
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