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$260 million deal averts first federal trial on opioid crisis

Attorney Mark Lanier gets a hug outside the U.S. Federal courthouse, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Cleveland. The nation's three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle a lawsuit related to the opioid crisis just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)
Attorney Mark Lanier gets a hug outside the U.S. Federal courthouse, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Cleveland. The nation's three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle a lawsuit related to the opioid crisis just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak) Attorney Mark Lanier gets a hug outside the U.S. Federal courthouse, Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, in Cleveland. The nation's three dominant drug distributors and a big drugmaker have reached a $260 million deal to settle a lawsuit related to the opioid crisis just as the first federal trial over the crisis was due to begin Monday. (AP Photo/Tony Dejak)

By Associated Press 5 min read

CLEVELAND – The nation’s three biggest drug distributors and a major drugmaker reached an 11th-hour, $260 million settlement over the toll of the opioids in two Ohio counties, averting what would have been the first federal trial over the crisis.

The settlement was announced just hours before the trial was scheduled to start, with a jury selected last week.

The trial involved only two counties – Cleveland’s Cuyahoga County and Akron’s Summit County – but was seen as an important test case that could gauge the strength of the opposing sides’ arguments and prod them toward a nationwide settlement.

Across the country, the drug industry is facing more than 2,600 lawsuits brought by state and local governments seeking to hold it accountable for the crisis that has been linked to more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades. A federal judge in Ohio has been pushing the parties toward a settlement of all the lawsuits for nearly two years.

The agreement announced Monday calls for the distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson to pay a combined $215 million, said Hunter Shkolnik, a lawyer for Cuyahoga County.