Originally from Alternatives to the High Cost of Litigation

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The potentially vast opioid litigation is facing an alternative dispute resolution intervention.

From its inception last year, the judge in In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, the multidistrict opioid litigation case pitting public entities across the nation against manufacturers, distributors, and retailers of prescription opiate drugs, has had an eye on mediation and ADR. 

While the litigation elements of the case have emerged throughout 2018, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster, of Ohio’s Northern District and based in Cleveland, sees mediated settlement as an important part of resolving the massive MDL.

Polster has set an aggressive trial schedule for March 18, 2019, while also still pursuing a settlement track of unprecedented scope. Emily Field, Product Liability Cases to Watch: Midyear Report, Law360 (July 17)(available at https://bit.ly/2OUnANf).

Back in December, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) consolidated and transferred more than 400 opiate-related cases to the Northern Ohio U.S. District Court under Polster’s oversight.