Companies, Ohio counties reach $260 million settlement over opioid crisis

See the full CNN story here.

See the full CNN story here.

Four pharmaceutical companies have reached a $260 million settlement in response to the national opioid epidemic.

The settlement, announced on Oct. 21, was reached on the eve of a first-of-its-kind federal trial, CNN reports.

The settlement totaling $260 million was reached between four companies — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. — and plaintiffs, Summit and Cuyahoga counties in Ohio, the news site reports.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, according to U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster. 

Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson reached a tentative settlement in Ohio in response to a federal lawsuit over the nation’s opioid epidemic, agreeing to pay $10 million to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, Ohio, as well as reimburse $5 million in legal fees and donate $5.4 million for opioid-related programs.

Johnson & Johnson ordered to pay $10 million to two Ohio counties

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals manufactured opioids and Johnson & Johnson also owned two companies that processed and imported the raw material used to manufacture oxycodone, a highly addictive opioid, shown above. Photo credit: www.drugs.com.

Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals manufactured opioids and Johnson & Johnson also owned two companies that processed and imported the raw material used to manufacture oxycodone, a highly addictive opioid, shown above. Photo credit: www.drugs.com.

Johnson & Johnson has reached a tentative settlement in Ohio in response to a federal lawsuit over the nation’s opioid epidemic, The Washington Post reports.

The health-care giant will pay $10 million to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, Ohio, as well as reimburse $5 million in legal fees and donate $5.4 million for opioid-related programs in the communities, The Post reports.

The case was brought by more than 2,500 counties, cities, and Native American tribes. 

In August, Johnson & Johnson was ordered to pay the state of Oklahoma $572 million in the first opioid-related state case to go to trial.

Cleveland County (Okla.) District Judge Thad Balkman found the pharmaceutical company responsible for the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, one of more than 40 states waging lawsuits, The Washington Post reports.

An estimated 400,000 people have died of overdoses from painkillers, heroin and illegal fentanyl since 1999.

MGM Resorts agrees to pay up to $800 million in wake of Las Vegas massacre

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images as reported by the New York Post on 10/3/19.

Photo credit: AFP/Getty Images as reported by the New York Post on 10/3/19.

MGM Resorts International will pay up to $800 million in a settlement for victims of the October 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in American history, The New York Times reports. The shooting left 58 people dead and hundreds injured.

The killer, Stephen Paddock, opened fire from his room in the Mandalay Bay hotel, which MGM owns, into an outdoor country music concert.

The settlement is in response to claims that MGM was negligent in allowing Paddock to stockpile weapons and ammunition in the 32nd-floor room, The Times reports.

“Police recovered 23 assault-style weapons, including 14 fitted with since-outlawed bump stock attachments that allowed the firearms to fire rapidly like machine guns,” according to a report by The New York Post.