OKLAHOMA CITY – A final order in the Opioid case against Johnson & Johnson will be appealed.
Attorney General Mike Hunter said the state agrees with Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman’s decision that Johnson & Johnson is a direct cause of the state’s opioid epidemic.
However, the state disagrees with the court’s ruling that only requires Johnson & Johnson to pay for one year of the state’s abatement plan.
“It is crystal clear under Oklahoma law that once a company is found liable for causing a public nuisance, it must pay what it takes to clean it up until the nuisance is gone,” Hunter said.
“During the trial, the state’s expert witnesses repeatedly testified that it could take up to 30 years or more to take our state back to where we were before the crisis began,” Hunter said.
“Our abatement plan was put together by some of the foremost experts in the state and nation on what it will take to overcome this tragedy that continues to grip our state. All of these experts agree that there are dire consequences if we do not end the crisis in its entirety and that it will get much worse and more Oklahomans will die. Johnson & Johnson had no abatement expert of its own and failed to present a competing abatement plan,” he said.
The state has until Dec. 16 to file its appeal.