Maryland Top Court Ends County’s Opioid Public Nuisance Action

A Maryland county may not sue pharmacy benefit managers, mail-order pharmacies, or retail pharmacies for common-law public nuisance in connection with the opioid epidemic, the state’s top court said.

Common-law public nuisance actions by a governmental entities in Maryland are limited to criminal prosecutions and suits to stop harmful conduct that affects a public right, the Maryland Supreme Court said Monday. It declined to expand the cause of action to allow Anne Arundel County’s suit for damages because it didn’t show that the public has a right to be free from the adverse effects of dispensing lawful products such as ...