Ohio Chamber of Commerce Supports Pharmacies in “Public Nuisance” Lawsuit

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Alliance for Civil Justice filed an amicus curiae (friend of the court) brief early this year to support pharmacies. The brief was filed in connection with a lawsuit pitting 2 Ohio counties against Purdue Pharma, Walgreens, Walmart, and CVS. The underlying lawsuit alleged that the pharmacies have created a public nuisance by dispensing opioids.

The lawsuit is one of many current lawsuits nationwide taking aim at opioids. The suit alleges that “opioid manufacturers, opioid distributors and opioid-selling pharmacies and retailers acted in concert to mislead medical professionals into prescribing, and millions of Americans into taking, and often becoming addicted to, opiates.” The case alleges that pharmacies fueled the opioid epidemic by “filling prescriptions for opioids without controls in place to stop the distribution of those that were illicitly prescribed.”

After a lower court ruled in favor of the plaintiff Ohio counties and held that Purdue and the pharmacies should pay $650 million in damages, the case was appealed to the Sixth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals. The Federal court, in turn, asked the Ohio State Supreme Court to decide an issue of law: specifically, whether Ohio law permits such a public nuisance claim (typically, public nuisance claims involve the use of land).

The Ohio Chamber of Commerce amicus brief was filed in support of the pharmacies and argues that the case is not a public nuisance claim but rather a product liability claim. The brief noted that in 2006, Ohio passed a law to “stop product liability lawsuits from masquerading as public nuisance lawsuits” and to clarify that all public nuisance claims based on the sale of products are subject to the Ohio Product Liability Act. The case is currently awaiting the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision.

References

National Prescription Opiate Litigation, Trumbull County, Ohio; et al v Purdue Pharma LP; et al, 22 US 1155, Sup C Ohio (2024)

National Prescription Opiate Litigation, (6th Cir 2023).