In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation

Over 1,300 public entities nationwide (collectively, the public entities) (plaintiffs) filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers, opioid distributors, and opioid-selling pharmacies and retailers (collectively, the opioid-industry entities) (defendants), alleging that the opioid-industry entities had misled medical professionals and the public into prescribing and taking opiates. The public entities asserted that the opioid-industry entities’ deception had led to hundreds of thousands of Americans dying from opioid overdoses and had forced the public entities to divert public funds to create emergency public-health-and-safety campaigns regarding the opioid crisis. The public entities asserted causes of action, including federal and state Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) violations, public-nuisance claims, and other state common-law claims. The public entities’ actions were consolidated into a multidistrict litigation (MDL) in federal district court in Ohio. In June 2019, lawyers for some of the public entities asked the court presiding over the MDL to certify a proposed “negotiation class” of over 34,000 cities and counties to negotiate settlements of class members’ claims with the opioid-industry entities. The proposed negotiation class was a novel concept suggested by two law professors, one of whom was a special master assisting with the MDL. If the class were certified, class members would be given 60 days after certification to opt out of the class. Several opioid-industry entities and some public entities objected to the class-certification motion, but the court granted the motion and certified a class for negotiation of class members’ RICO and Controlled Substances Act claims and other claims arising out of the same common facts. The objectors appealed. After concluding that the class-certification order was appealable and that the objectors had standing to appeal, the appellate court considered whether the district court had properly certified the negotiation class.