A federal judge appeared likely to grant certification of a proposed class of thousands of cities and counties as a potential model to settle cases brought over the opioid crisis.
At a hearing Tuesday, lawyers for some of the pharmaceutical distributors and the states were among those who raised objections about a proposal from lead plaintiffs counsel in the multidistrict litigation to create a “negotiation” class that would encompass potentially 33,000 cities and counties. U.S. District Judge Dan Polster of the Northern District of Ohio, who has encouraged settlement from the start of the opioid litigation, pushed back against many of the objections.
