Oklahoma Supreme Court Tosses Opioid Award Against J&J (3)

The Oklahoma Supreme Court threw out a $465 million opioid award against Johnson & Johnson after finding a judge wrongfully concluded the drug maker violated state law with its marketing campaigns.

The state’s highest court on Tuesday ruled Judge Thad Balkman misconstrued Oklahoma’s public-nuisance law in ruling in 2019 J&J’s marketing of its painkillers helped fuel the state’s opioid epidemic. He concluded J&J should pay hundreds of millions to fund treatment and other social-services programs.

Oklahoma is one of many states and municipalities that have sued opioid makers such as J&J under public-nuisance law, accusing them of fueling an epidemic ...