Ohio

Ohio Supreme Court sides with pharmacies in appeal of $650 million opioid judgment

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1 month ago

December 10, 2024

Ohio Supreme Court sides with pharmacies in appeal of 0 million opioid judgment

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the state’s product liability law prohibits counties from bringing public nuisance claims against national pharmaceutical chains as they did as part of national opioid litigation, a decision that could overturn a $650 million judgment against the pharmacies.

An attorney for the counties called the decision “devastating.”

Justices were largely unanimous in their interpretation of an arcane disagreement over the state law, which had emerged in a lawsuit brought by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart.

The counties won their initial lawsuit — and were awarded $650 million in damages by a federal judge in 2022 — but the pharmacies had disputed the court’s reading of the Ohio Product Liability Act, which they said protected them from such sanctions.

In an opinion written by Justice Joseph Deters, the court found that Ohio state lawmakers intended the law to prevent “all common law product liability causes of action” — even if they don’t seek compensatory damages but merely “equitable relief” for the communities.

“The plain language of the OPLA abrogates product-liability claims, including product-related public-nuisance claims seeking equitable relief,” he wrote. “We are constrained to interpret the statute as written, not according to our own personal policy preferences.”

Two of the Republican-dominated court’s Democratic justices disagreed on that one point, while concurring on the rest of the judgment.

“Any award to abate a public nuisance like the opioid epidemic would certainly be substantial in size and scope, given that the claimed nuisance is both long-lasting and widespread,” Justice Melody Stewart wrote in an opinion joined by Justice Michael Donnelly. “But just because an abatement award is of substantial size and scope does not mean it transforms it into a compensatory-damages award.”

In a statement, the plaintiffs’ co-liaison counsel in the national opioid litigation, Peter Weinberger, of the Cleveland-based law firm Spangenberg Shibley & Liber, lamented the decision.

“This ruling will have a devastating impact on communities and their ability to police corporate misconduct,” he said. “We have used public nuisance claims across the country to obtain nearly $60 billion in opioid settlements, including nearly $1 billion in Ohio alone, and the Ohio Supreme Court’s ruling undermines the very legal basis that drove this result.”

But Weinberger said Tuesday’s ruling would not be the end, and that communities would continue to fight “through other legal avenues.”

“We remain steadfast in our commitment to holding all responsible parties to account as this litigation continues nationwide,” he said.

In his 2022 ruling, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said that the money awarded to Lake and Trump counties would be used to the fight the opioid crisis. Attorneys at the time put the total price tag at $3.3 billion for the damage done.

Lake County was to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County was to receive $344 million over the same period. Nearly $87 million was to be paid immediately to cover the first two years of payments.

A jury returned a verdict in favor of the counties in November 2021, after a six-week trial. It was then left to the judge to decide how much the counties should receive. He heard testimony the next May to determine damages.

The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication. It was the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans since 1999.

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Ohio

Ohio’s first Zaxby’s is coming to Greater Cincinnati

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1 hour ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Ohio’s first Zaxby’s is coming to Greater Cincinnati

Zaxby’s, a popular fried chicken chain, is getting its first Ohio location in Liberty Township.

A 56-seat Zaxby’s restaurant and drive-thru is planned to open at Freedom Pointe, next to Costco. The development, which was initially planned to be a hotel, will also house three other eateries: E+O Kitchen, which has locations at The Banks, Hyde Park and Loveland; Bismarck Donut and Coffee Shop and El Rancho Grande, said Christy Gloyd, Liberty Township’s marketing and events manager.

Costco opened near Interstate 75 on Cox Road in 2022. Construction on the new restaurants starts this summer, Gloyd said.

“We’re just really excited to be growing over there at Freedom Pointe,” she told The Enquirer. “Having Costco as the anchor is huge. Just to have another family-friendly restaurant and have the variety – to have the Zaxby’s and E+O and El Rancho Grande – I think it’s really going to be a nice offering for our residents.”

Atlanta-headquartered Zaxby’s has over 900 locations in 17 states, mostly in the South and Midwest. The chain is known for its chicken fingers and wings, sandwiches and salads. The closest Zaxby’s locations currently open are over an hour away, in Shelbyville, Indiana and Louisville, Kentucky.

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Ohio

Don’t tell Jolene. Dolly Parton license plate now available in Ohio

Published

10 hours ago

January 15, 2025

Press Room

Don’t tell Jolene. Dolly Parton license plate now available in Ohio

Sales for license plates featuring Dolly Parton’s face began Monday for $25. All proceeds will go to fund her Imagination Library

Fans of country music legend Dolly Parton can show off their pride for the singer with a new Ohio license plate.

Ohio drivers can now purchase license plates featuring Parton for $25. The money from each plate will go to Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library of Ohio, a charity that gives children ages 5 and younger a free book each month. The state began selling the plates Monday.

Specifically, the funds will go to the purchaser’s local county program of the library, which it says will pay for mailing a child 12 books, enough for an entire year. Ohio is the second state to offer a license plate supporting the library after Parton’s home state of Tennessee.

First lady Fran DeWine has focused on expanding the Imagination Library in Ohio since her husband Gov. Mike DeWine took office in 2019. She was inspired when she saw her grandchildren receive books through the program and by 2020, it had expanded to all of Ohio’s 88 counties.

“I’m excited to see Ohio as the second state to offer a specialty Dolly Parton license plate to support her program, Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library, in Ohio,” Fran DeWine said in a press release. “With each purchase, $25 will go back to supporting the local program, helping to ensure the program remains available to all families in Ohio.”

The plates are available to purchase online at OPlates.com or in-person at a local deputy registrar license agency.

Gov. DeWine signed House Bill 315 which included the Parton Plates on Jan. 2. The original bill, sponsored by Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, received unanimous yes votes in both chambers before the license plate language was put into the larger HB 315.

Donovan Hunt is a fellow in the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism’s Statehouse News Bureau.

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Ohio

Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith bought insurance ahead of College Football Playoff | Report

Published

18 hours ago

January 14, 2025

Press Room

Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith bought insurance ahead of College Football Playoff | Report

Jeremiah Smith has taken his first season at Ohio State by storm, putting the star freshman on pace to be one of the Buckeyes’ top wide receivers of all time — and potentially the No. 1 overall pick of the NFL draft by the time he is done in Columbus.

In order to ensure that, Smith’s family has taken out permanent total disability insurance (PTD) ahead of the College Football Playoff, according to a report from CBS Sports’ Dennis Dodd.

Smith is not eligible to declare for the draft until after his junior year at Ohio State, which would make the 2027 NFL draft the earliest he could leave. His insurance lasts until Aug. 1, 2027 or when he signs an NFL contract — whichever comes first — per Dodd.

Per Dodd, Smith’s insurance policy protects him from a career-ending injury both on and off the field, and is with Leverage Disability and Life Insurance, a Southern California-based athlete insurance firm. He does not have loss of draft value (LOV) coverage as part of his policy, per Dodd.

“If this kid steps off the curb and gets hit by a car, he’s covered,” Greenspoon Marder law firm’s head of insurance recovery Richard Giller told CBS Sports.

Dodd, citing sources, reported it is rare for freshmen to receive permanent total disability insurance. In addition, Dodd reported Smith’s premiums cost is $7,500-$8,000 per million of coverage, citing additional sources.

A player receiving insurance has become more common for players over the years, especially in bowl games. A most recent example is Colorado taking out full insurance for its players, including Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28.

Outside of a quiet CFP Cotton Bowl semifinal against Texas, against whom he finished with just one catch for 3 yards on three targets, Smith has impressed during the Buckeyes’ CFP championship run.

In the Buckeyes’ first two CFP games against Tennessee and Oregon, Smith combined for 290 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 13 catches. Smith enters Monday’s CFP championship vs. No. 7 Notre Dame with 1,227 receiving yards and 14 receiving touchdowns on 71 catches on the season.

Shortly after Ohio State’s win over Oregon, ESPN football analyst Dan Orlovsky said if Smith were eligible for April’s NFL draft, he would be the No. 1 pick and “it wouldn’t even be close.”

“He would easily be the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft,” Orlovsky said on Jan. 2. “You will have teams in two years, for that ’27 draft, tanking for him.”

No. 8 Ohio State will play No. 7 Notre Dame in the CFP championship on Jan. 20. The Buckeyes opened up as a -9.5 point early favorite on BetMGM.

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