Cities, Companies Tell 6th Circuit That Negotiation Class Can’t Stand

A group of six Ohio cities and major pharmaceutical companies told the Sixth Circuit in two briefs last week that the negotiation class in the opioid multidistrict litigation proceedings that the idea should be reversed, Law360 reports.

The idea, endorsed last year by U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, was pitched by plaintiffs’ lawyers as a quick way to resolve the complex litigation. However, the cities said it “is neither a litigation class nor a settlement class, lacking the essential protections of each.” The companies said in their brief that having attorneys representing some cities in the class and some states that were not included “is an irreconcilable conflict.”

The representatives of the negotiation class are expected to respond next month, with oral arguments shortly thereafter.