Florida Attorney Fined $100,000 by Judge Over Opioid Litigation

A Florida attorney was fined $100,000 on Tuesday for statements that “improperly cast aspersions upon the integrity of the Court” overseeing thousands of lawsuits filed over the opioid epidemic, as well as a leading lawyer and the litigation itself.

Senior Northern District of Ohio Judge Dan Aaron Polster took issue with Michael Kahn’s statements that the lead lawyers for the thousands of lawsuits—particularly one Cleveland attorney—regularly partook in “ex parte” one-sided conversations with the court, that the judge was “plaintiff-oriented” and that he was pressuring the drug companies to settle.

Kahn made the statements on at least four occasions in ...