Anatomy of the Opioid Litigation: A Case Study in Complex Litigation

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Although easy to lose sight of in the midst of the Coronvirus epidemic, the United States is in the midst of an opioid addiction epidemic. More than 10 million Americans 12 years and older are estimated to have misused opioids in 2018, most of which misuse was linked to prescription drugs. Approximately 47,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in that year. Opioid use is reported to have peaked in 2011 but opioid addiction remains a problem in many parts of the country (CNN Editorial Research, "Opioid Crisis Fast Facts," June 21, 2020, available at https://www.cnn.com/2017/09/18/health/opioid-crisis-fast-facts/index.html). The opioid crisis presents a variety of public policy challenges. Like the Crack epidemic of the 1980s, opioid misuse has had disproportionate effects on certain communities. While the former disproportionately affected poor Black urban communities and other urban communities of color, the latter has primarily affected poor White communities, particularly in non-coastal areas of the country. The former was met with popular criticism of its victims and draconian criminal justice policies that incarcerated a generation of Black Americans and other people of color. The latter has been met with an outpouring of concerned media commentary, and funding (however insufficient) for public treatment programs. It is difficult not to conclude that systemic engrained racism explains much of this difference. The opioid crisis also differs from the crack crisis, however, in that opioid victims and their advocates have been able to target responsible parties and attempt to hold them accountable for the harm and losses their conduct has imposed on addicts, their families and their communities. It is widely agreed that the origin of the epidemic was the virtually unlimited distribution of prescription opioid drugs, allegedly encouraged by the drug manufacturers and…