Munger, Tolles & Olson Named Litigators of the Week by Am Law Litigation Daily For Major Appellate Victory Knocking Out $650 Million Judgment Against CVS Pharmacy

Munger, Tolles & Olson, along with co-counsel Sullivan & Cromwell and Jones Day received a well-deserved Litigators of the Week recognition from Am Law Litigation Daily for their efforts in securing the reversal of a $650 million judgment against Walgreens, Walmart and CVS Pharmacy.

After federal jurors in Cleveland found Walgreens, Walmart and CVS liable for public-nuisance claims related to the opioid epidemic, two Ohio counties that filed the lawsuit were awarded $650 million. The pharmacies appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Sixth Circuit, which asked the Ohio Supreme Court to determine if the Ohio Product Liability Act nullifies the counties’ public-nuisance claim.

Following appellate arguments made by MTO and co-counsel, the Ohio Supreme Court found that the statute’s definition of a product liability claim, which was amended in 2007 to include any public-nuisance claim, did not allow the sort of claims brought by the counties and reversed the $650 million verdict.

The MTO appellate team representing CVS Pharmacy, Inc. included partners Don Verrilli, Ginger Anders and Rachel Miller-Ziegler and associate Xiaonan April Hu.

The Am Law Litigation Daily recognized MTO and co-counsel as Litigators of the Week for their excellent work on appeal. When asked what defendants facing public nuisance claims tied to products can take from this decision, Mr. Verrilli replied: “This is an important decision. Though focused on a specific Ohio statute, the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision reflects and reinforces the important insight that public-nuisance litigation is an especially poor way to deal with the huge public policy challenges posed by equally huge and complex social problems like the opioids crisis. Solving such crises requires the full engagement of elected officials and expert government bodies.”

The case also garnered significant media coverage in publications such as Washington Post, AP News, Reuters, Bloomberg Law, Law360 and many others. (Subscriptions may be required)