Shareholders Paul Hanly Jr. and Jayne Conroy speak to reporters on the steps of the federal court house building in downtown Cleveland on Oct. 21.
Four drug companies settled for a combined $260 million in the early hours of Monday, Oct. 21 to avoid the first bellwether trial in the National Prescription Opiate Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). As co-lead of the MDL, Firm Shareholder Paul J. Hanly Jr., was part of the team that hammered out the final details of the deal. Shareholder Jayne Conroy served on the lead trial team that was prepared to try the case. In total, the team secured $325 million in settlements for the two Ohio counties involved in the bellwether trial.
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As Simmons Hanly Conroy attorneys and clients left the courthouse, they were greeted by a mass of reporters who conducted dozens of onsite interviews. The settlement made national headlines in several prominent media outlets, including televised segments on CBS News and CBS This Morning.
During the televised interview, CBS News correspondent Adriana Diaz spoke with Hanly and the MDL’s other two co-leads about how the deal came together.
“There’s nothing that forces settlement like a trial date,” Hanly told her. “We think it really began to focus [the defendants] and that’s when they made significant movement upward toward a number that we ultimately accepted.”
Diaz then asked about the implications about this settlement for the other 2,700 opioid cases pending in federal court.
Hanly responded, “In each of those cases, the defendants are going to have to carefully weigh their potential risks of going to trial and paying a substantial amount of money, which we believe they did in this case.”
A full list of the coverage from the bellwether opioid settlement is as follows:
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- Law.com: ‘It Was a Late Night’: How Attorneys Reached a Last-Minute $260M Opioid Settlement
- NYT: $260 Million Opioid Settlement Reached at Last Minute With Big Drug Companies
- Reuters: Drug firms avert landmark opioid trial as talks on $48b settlement set to resume
- WashPo: Last-ditch settlement in Ohio could open door for much larger deal
- NBC News: Drug companies reach last minute settlement in major federal opioid trial
- WSJ: (2 articles) Pre Trial coverage: Opioid-Addiction Litigation Heads to Complex Trial and More Money Demanded in Opioid Settlements Talks
- CNN: (2 articles) 4 Pharmaceutical companies accused in the opioid epidemic reach a $260 million settlement just before trial and Four AGs propose framework for a global $48b opioid settlement
- Law360: Opioid Trial Halted By Drug Cos.’ 11th Hour $260M Deal
- Cincinnati.com: Opioid settlement: Will deal bring money to Hamilton County? Not yet
- The Herald Dispatch: Cabell, Huntington at driver’s wheel after Ohio Opioid settlement
- Sentinel & Enterprise: Committee pitches concept to settle all opioid lawsuits
- MDJOnline: UPDATE: Settlement reached in opioid test case, Rome and Floyd County ‘holding our position’
- West Central Tribune: Ohio counties, drug firms reach $260 million settlement in opioid epidemic case
- Crain’s Cleveland Business: Drug wholesalers, Teva agree to pay $260 million to settle with Cuyahoga and Summit Counties over opioids
- The Philadelphia Inquirer: Shapiro and state AGs announce proposed $48 billion nationwide opioid settlement
- The Daily Times: $260 million deal reached in opioid crisis
- PsychCongress: Drug Companies Avert Landmark Opioids Trial as Talks on $48 Billion Settlement Set to Resume
- The Times Leader: Trial averted with $260M opioid deal
- New York Times: Making Drug Companies Pay For The Opioid Epidemic
- Longview News Journal: $50 billion opioid settlement bid sparks state-cities fight
- The Colorado Sun: For Months Colorado has quietly been in talks for another multibillion-dollar opioid settlement
- Financial World: Drugmakers avert opioid trial as $48 billion settlement talk set to resume
Publications that featured the co-leads’ joint statement issued shortly after Judge Dan Aaron Polster’s ruling:
- Cleveland.com: Cuyahoga, Summit counties get hundreds of millions of dollars, but opioid litigation far from over
- The Herald-Dispatch: Cabell, Huntington at driver’s wheel after Ohio opioid settlement
- The Wall Street Journal: Four Drug Companies Reach Last-Minute Settlement in Opioid Litigation
- CNN: 4 pharmaceutical companies accused in the opioid epidemic reach a $260 million settlement just before trial
- Financial Times: Opioid companies head off bellwether trial with $260m settlement
- U.S. News & World Report: Drug Companies Reach $260 Million Opioid Settlement With Ohio Counties, Averting Landmark Trial
- The Hill: Four companies reach $260 settlement deal in opioid lawsuit
- Quartz: Four major players in the US opioid crisis reached a tentative deal in Ohio
- USA Today: Drug distributors, opioid maker reach deal with Ohio counties in historic lawsuit
- Politico: Drug companies strike 11th-hour deal to avoid major opioid trial
