Thread by @HappyWarriorP

so no one is going to like my take on this,
& I hope to share more officially with an article

But people are being a little misled here
washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07… #chronicpain #opioids #westvirginia #drugs #opioidcrisis

reason we're seeing opioids lawsuits being overturned is not about the validity of what the companies have done but how they've been sought after by AG's & litigators

TDLR: Public Nuisance lawsuits are IMO garbage that works by intimidation & not merit

reason.com/2019/08/27/the…

Public Nuisance lawsuits mean plaintiffs don't have to prove intent or specific ways that the defendants' actions led to damages

good scare tactics for an issue w/ lots of public feeling & can push judges & juries to do things they might otherwise not

This works great when you want to

A. Make lots of money in damages (fantastic for giant litigation firms)

B. Don't have clear or clean evidence to make your case

atra.org/the-alarming-e… #lawtwitter #legaltwitter

downside is public nuisance lawsuits are relatively weak on merit, so if U have a long slate of cases coming down the pike

if even 1 judge throws 1 case out or one gets appealed, then it puts the whole stack at risk for problems

which is what happened

https://twitter.com/jacobsullum/status/1458531642587459586?s=20&t=KHqfOEfB8P9pTons4Es58A

The case against AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson was sticky,

these were distributors; their job was just to deliver pills to pharmacies;

(cont.)

washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07…

while there were A LOT of pills being distributed,

they could not (legally shouldn't) be able to decipher the legit prescriptions from the bad

West Virginia has insane rates of chronic debilitating pain,

so they could say in court they honestly didn't know there was an issue

For this case to work, the plaintiffs

1) must prove the firms knew what they were doing was wrong LEGALLY

2) that they had a way to tell the good scripts from bad.

the plaintiffs didn't, so they lost the case
washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07… #opioids #westvirginia #drugs #politics

why PUBLIC NUISANCE lawsuits are a waste of our time cuz these are not strong cases,

If public's concerns were taken seriously then stronger & more criminal cases should be sought & given energy instead of LUCRATIVE ones

newsweek.com/record-numbers… #opioids #drugs #westvirginia

neither media nor most Americans have contemplated the debate between helping patients w/ chronic pain & banning/attacking prescription opioids

w/out those discussions & honest evaluation of these cases, expect more bewilderment like WV to follow
washingtonpost.com/health/2022/07… #truth

I'd like to get into this case more officially in an article

but heres a basic explanation of why the West Virginia Distributor's case failed & why U should expect more like it in the future

its not that I'm happy, but why, if U know the facts, should've expected it

thanks for your time,
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