Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) is bracing itself for a ruling today from an Oklahoma judge over whether it should be held liable in a lawsuit by the state’s attorney general who argues the company sowed the seeds of the U.S. opioid crisis.
The verdict, expected at around 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, will be the first on whether J&J’s sales of opioids contributed to an epidemic described by the Oklahoma AG in his opening remarks as the “worst man-made public health crisis in the history of this country and this state.”
The state has asked for more than $17B to fix the epidemic over a 30-year plan; if the judge sides entirely with the state, the verdict would be the biggest monetary award handed down in a bench trial in U.S. history.
“Johnson & Johnson took a gamble here, going to trial in front of the world in a televised courtroom,” says Yale Law School professor Abbe Gluck. “They could have a huge victory or they could have a huge defeat, and that’s going to set a tone for everything that follows.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.