Lawyers representing babies born addicted to opioids want to break away from the massive national litigation underway, arguing that these particularly vulnerable victims need a legal pathway all their own, reports Politico. A federal judge in Cleveland overseeing the lawsuit against opioid makers and distributors is encouraging hundreds of local governments, Native American tribes, hospitals and patients who filed separate lawsuits to reach a single settlement worth potentially hundreds of billions of dollars from companies that sold the powerful painkillers while downplaying their risks.
Attorneys for the opioid-dependent babies are arguing in court this week that their young clients’ crushing needs are being overlooked. They say the clock is ticking to help hundreds of thousands of kids potentially facing lifelong health and learning complications researchers are still scrambling to understand. “These kids end up being robbed of a chance because of opioids and because of big pharma,” said Kevin Thompson, an attorney for opioid babies. Thompson is pushing for at least 13 class-action lawsuits involving babies to be carved out from the sprawling lawsuit in Cleveland and transferred to a federal judge in West Virginia, one of the hardest-hit states where five percent of all babies are born dependent on opioids. A seven-judge federal panel hears arguments Thursday. Other plaintiffs and defendants, including major opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma and Teva Pharmaceuticals, and national distributors like McKesson and Cardinal Health — are pushing to keep the opioid litigation in one courtroom, with the expectation of a global settlement that could rival the $240 billion tobacco settlements of the late 1990s. They argue the opioid babies’ claims are duplicative of other cases and separating their lawsuits would undermine the national effort.