By Faith Khalik
On May 3, 2019, Public Health Law Watch and six other amici filed an amicus brief in the national prescription opiate litigation in the northern district of Ohio.
During the case’s first hearing in January 2018, Judge Dan Aaron Polster told lawyers that he expected to see a settlement that would reduce the adverse public health impact of the opioid crisis, instead of just “moving money around.” The amicus brief submitted by PHLW et al. proposes just that: a settlement that includes a framework for addressing the opioid crisis and has a meaningful positive impact on public health.
Specifically, the brief proposes the creation of a nonprofit foundation to monitor the settlement’s implementation, participate in development and implementation of evidence-based programmatic initiatives, and administer funding for local treatment and prevention resources.
This post originally appeared on the PHLW blog. Read the rest of it there.
Read more of coverage of the Opioid MDL from Bill of Health:
American Opioid Litigation: A Conversation with Professor Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
Don’t Ask What Money Can Do For the Opioid Plaintiffs, Ask What Pharma Can Do For Them
Recent Developments in Opioid Litigation: A Re-Cap, Visual Aid, and Summary of Outstanding Inquiries
Faith Khalik is a Legal Fellow at Public Health Law Watch at Northeastern Univ. School of Law