In a sharp rebuke to the federal judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation over the opioid crisis, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit said a pretrial ruling by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster was a "clear abuse of discretion."

The panel overturned Polster's decision in advance of a trial—scheduled to take place Nov. 9, 2020 with a dozen pharmacies as defendants—to allow plaintiffs to add new claims more than a year after a deadline to do so.

The pharmacies, which include CVS and Walgreens, had petitioned the Sixth Circuit to overturn Polster's ruling, dated Nov. 19, 2019, along with two subsequent decisions, insisting that he had violated the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. On Wednesday, the circuit agreed with the pharmacies, granting their petition for writ of mandamus.