Eleventh Circuit Grapples With Insurance for Opioid Litigation

A federal appeals panel wrestled with whether opioid epidemic litigation must allege specific injuries to individuals to trigger coverage by liability insurers.

The US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit heard arguments Thursday in two separate cases pitting insurance giants against companies accused of stoking the opioid crisis. In both cases, lower courts had ruled for the insurers, holding that the underlying suits didn’t meet a threshold requirement for coverage because they didn’t seek damages because of bodily injury.

The appellate judges seemed unconvinced that the opioid cases had nothing to do with bodily injury, but they questioned whether ...