For more information regarding speakers, agenda, and registration, visit the event website.

About Paulina do Amaral

Paulina do Amaral is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office and a senior member of the firm’s Mass Tort and Injury Practice Team. Paulina represents individuals, groups and classes in complex, multi-party litigation in state and federal courts and in multidistrict litigation throughout the U.S. Paulina’s current work includes representation of government entities in one of the largest pieces of civil litigation in history, In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation, in which she serves as a leader of the Law and Briefing Committee and on the Expert Oversight Committee. In 2019, Paulina was named to the Board of Trustees of the UC Hastings College of the Law, and was selected for inclusion in Lawdragon’s list of “500 Leading Plaintiff Consumer Lawyers.”

Order Granting Settlement Approval, In re McKinsey & Co. Inc. National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation

Order Granting Settlement Approval, In re McKinsey & Co. Inc. National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litigation (Santa Cruz County, et al.)

The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by public governments and school districts, who alleged McKinsey strategized and acted with Purdue Pharma LP and various other opioid manufacturers to create and employ marketing and sales practices to maximize opioid revenues. McKinsey had agreed to the $230 million settlement in September. The settlement is the first to offer monetary restitution specifically for schools.

Various companies have paid more than $50 billion in settlements for making misleading marketing statements that vastly underplayed the addictive quality of opioid pain killers. The U.S. Supreme Court is purportedly considering whether to reverse an appeals court’s decision allowing Purdue’s family owners to dedicate roughly $6 billion to a trust for opioid victims in exchange for protection against civil liability from lawsuits related to opioid marketing.

McKinsey previously agreed to pay $600 million to settle state attorneys general lawsuits seeking to hold its work with the opioid industry accountable. As with the earlier settlements, the money from the new settlement will be distributed to subdivisions and school districts pursuant to established settlement allocation formulas. The schools will receive their monies pursuant to a grant-making trust.

For more information, see https://mckinseyschooldistrictopioidsettlement.com/

Global management and consulting company McKinsey & Co. describes itself as “the trusted advisor to the world’s leading businesses, governments, and institutions.” The company was sued in the wake of the national opioids harm litigation for its allegedly integral role in creating and deepening the opioid crisis, including working closely with the major opioid manufacturers, such as Purdue Pharmaceutical, to promote, market, and sell opioids, despite knowing the risks associated with over-prescribing these controlled substances.

In January of 2018, Lieff Cabraser founding partner Elizabeth Cabraser was appointed to the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee and Settlement Negotiating Committee in the National Prescription Opiates MDL, and was subsequently appointed Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel in the McKinsey & Co. National Prescription Opiate MDL. The McKinsey cases were assigned to Judge Charles R. Breyer for coordinated discovery and pretrial matters. In October 2022, the Court denied McKinsey’s motion to dismiss plaintiffs from 19 states. In September of 2023, McKinsey agreed to pay $269.5 million to resolve the litigation, including $39.5 million designated for participating federally-recognized Native American Tribes.

According to the proposed settlement, the Tribal payment is open to all 574 federally recognized Tribes, whether or not a Tribe has filed litigation against McKinsey, just as is the case with earlier nationwide tribal opioid settlements. Settlement funds will be allocated among Tribes using the inter-tribal plan of allocation approved and adopted in the related Purdue (Opioid) Bankruptcy. This is the same allocation used to allocate most of the earlier nationwide tribal opioid settlements. The settlement will become effective 30 days after McKinsey concludes that a sufficient number of Tribes have agreed to the settlement by signing a Tribal Participation Form.

In order to participate, a Tribe must sign and submit a Tribal Participation Form through a secure portal that can be accessed through the website https://mckinseytribalsettlement.com. Tribes can also fax, email, or mail their Participation form; full instructions are available on the Tribal Participation website.

June 8, 2023 – An additional $18.75 billion will now be provided to communities nationwide to directly address the opioid epidemic, as a vast majority of state and local governments confirmed participation in global settlements that resolve litigation with Walgreens, CVS, Teva, Allergan, and an impending finalized national settlement with Walmart. Now that these agreements are finalized, communities will receive funds to provide life-saving resources where they are needed most – supplementing previous settlements that have already allowed communities to directly abate and address the ongoing crisis.

As with the previous “Big Three” opioid distributor agreements, the settlements require 85 percent of funds be allocated to programs that address the ongoing opioid crisis through treatment, education, and prevention efforts. A majority of states and local governments have already established their protocols to ensure funds will effectively reach those in need.

The complex and unprecedented settlements were negotiated by the National Prescription Opiate Litigation Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee (PEC) in partnership with the State Attorneys General to reach this complex and unprecedented resolution.

Statement from PEC negotiation team of Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser, Jayne Conroy of Simmons Hanly Conroy, Paul Farrell of Farrell and Fuller, Paul Geller of Robbins Geller, Peter Mougey of Levin Papantonio Rafferty, Joe Rice of Motley Rice LLC, and Chris Seeger of Seeger Weiss:

“Our team is proud to arrive at this moment for communities across the country in dire need of support to address and abate the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic has ravaged our country over the past decade and the effects continue today. This sign-on from state and local governments opens the door for more community recovery resources including support to first responders, healthcare workers, law enforcement, and so many others who work every day on the frontlines of this public health crisis. This result would not have been possible without the efforts and advocacy of state attorneys general, community leaders, and so many others who have seen first-hand the devastating impacts of opioid addiction.

“We hope that this agreement, adding to the previous $26 billion in funds from opioid distributors and manufacturers, will give communities nationwide the necessary tools to treat those effected, grow programs to avoid future addiction, and prevent the opioid epidemic from claiming more lives.

“While our efforts have obtained nearly $50 billion for communities nationwide, the work is far from finished. There are other active defendants in the litigation that play a role in the opioid crisis in our country, and we will continue to work to hold those responsible for this epidemic fully accountable.”

Funds retrieved from National Prescription Opioid litigation through trials and settlements will go through state and local governments, who will determine the specific needs of their communities. The settlement agreements include terms that guardrail spending and ensure the funds go specifically to relief programs to help rebuild the devastation caused by the opioid epidemic rather than a general government fund. All spending of these settlement dollars will be strictly monitored by state agencies and boards formed to make determinations on the most efficient and useful programs for these funds.

The settlement will distribute funds based on population adjusted for the proportionate share of the opioid epidemic impact. The share of the impact is calculated using detailed and objective national data, including the amount of opioids shipped to the state, the number of opioid‐related deaths that occurred in the state and the number of people who suffer opioid use disorder in the state.

The settlement also calls for injunctive relief that requires the defendants to make significant changes to corporate practices to protect consumer health and welfare. For the pharmacies, this includes stricter red flag warnings for pharmacists, better monitoring systems for suspicious prescriptions, and other barriers to ensure safe prescribing.

All agreements with Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, Teva and Allergan now have reached more than 95% sign on from litigating states and subdivisions nationwide.

Updated information about these settlements are available at the Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee negotiation team’s website: www.nationalopioidsettlement.com.

The news is being covered widely, including by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Law Journal, and the Sacramento Bee.

Of all defendants, only Walgreens remained at trial by the end of an intense 11-weeks of argument and the presentation of evidence. The litigation scrutinized the entirety of the pharmaceutical supply chain, encompassing drug manufacturing, advertising, distribution, and pharmaceutical dispensing.

The case serves as a significant bellwether in the national multidistrict litigation targeting the opioid industry, establishing a precedent that is expected to prompt further negotiations and stimulate high-value settlements across the U.S. Lieff Cabraser partner Elizabeth Cabraser, who served as Co-Lead Counsel for the City and County of San Francisco, emphasized the potential nationwide “ripple effect” of the trial.

Expert testimony during the trial estimated that over 40,000 individuals in San Francisco were grappling with “opioid use disorder”. U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer, overseeing the case, concluded that Walgreens’ actions had exacerbated the local opioid crisis, thereby escalating crime and homelessness, overtaxing the city’s healthcare facilities, and necessitating the closure of streets, parks, and other public spaces.

Judge Breyer’s scathing judgment held Walgreens accountable for significantly contributing to the city’s opioid epidemic and perpetuating a public nuisance. He asserted that, in spite of Walgreens’ avoidance of any admission of liability, the “historic agreement” as he describes it serves to ensure the corporation’s responsibility for the crisis it helped fuel.

The full article is available on Law360’s website (subscription required).

Learn more about Lieff Cabraser’s work on the landmark opioid trial against Walgreens.

We are proud to announce that the California Daily Journal/California Lawyer has selected a team of lawyers from Lieff Cabraser, Robbins Geller, and the San Francisco City Attorney’s office as co-recipients of a 2023 “California Lawyer of the Year” (CLAY) award for their successful efforts against Walgreens in a 2022 opioids harm bench trial in SF.

In August 2022, the Court found Walgreens liable for substantially contributing to the opioid epidemic in San Francisco, making this the second such trial to decide in a plaintiff’s favor in the national opioid litigation, and the first bench trial to find Walgreens liable. Subsequently, Walgreens and the two other major chain pharmacies agreed to settle the national opioids litigation for a combined total of nearly $14 billion.

Led by partners Richard M. Heimann, Elizabeth J. Cabraser, Paulina do Amaral, Mark P. Chalos, Kevin R. Budner, and Michael Levin-Gesundheit, Lieff Cabraser’s litigation team also included:

Don Arbitblit
Jacob Polin
Miriam Marks
Britt Cibulka
Matias Bustamante
Ian Bensberg
Emily Lovell
Malcolm Rayburn
Anthony McDaniel
Juliana Remuszka
Cecilia Atkins
Chris Munoz
Jesse Nankin-Royer
Anthony Grant
Major Mugrage
Marissa Svec
Ryan McCullough
Hazel Archer
Richard Texier
Divya Sundar
Michelle Baker
Victoria Chinn
Laura Haley
Andreea Miclut
Katherine Post
Olivia Vetesi
Phillippe Benoit
Patrick Ryan
Coleen Liebmann
Jose Garcia
James Herd
Ryan Sturtevant

The Robbins Geller team included:

Paul Geller
Mark Dearman
Tom Egler
Dory Antullis
Jay Alvarez
Lea Bays
Taeva Shefler
Nicolle Brito
Hadiya Deshmukh
Kyle Wheeler
Stepheney Windsor
Andrea Fiore
Cachel Chapman
Bianca Papp
Amy Yates
Steven Sarpy
Ron Thistlethwaite
Brendan Lawless
Gil Garra
Michael Bilan
Sabrina Montalvo
Christopher Collins
Pamela Mitchell
Kirsten McCormack
Casey Reis
Deb Tack
Patty Puerto
Katina Hanson
Deborah Dash
Stephanie Winkles
Carol Reynolds
Yvette Gray
Chris Clark
Camielle Peters
Matt Rhodes
Diego Eros
Christine Milliron
Michael Torres
Oya Dela Osa
Sadie Walton

The San Francisco City Attorney Office team included:

David Chiu
Dennis Herrera
Phillip Wilkinson
Michaela O’Rourke
Sarah Gutierrez

Special thanks also go to Simmons Hanly Conroy’s Jayne Conroy and Levin Papantonio’s Peter Mougey, the firms of Weitz & Luxenberg, Andrus Anderson, the Lanier Law Firm, Seeger Weiss, Skikos Crawford, and their respective teams.

Congratulations to all!

About Lieff Cabraser’s Opioids Litigation Work

In addition to our work on behalf of the City of San Francisco, Lieff Cabraser represents other cities, counties, Native American tribes, and tribal health organizations across the U.S. seeking justice and restitution from opioid makers and distributors for their role in the devastating opioid addiction and overdose crisis that has ravaged the nation for nearly two decades. We were also instrumental as part of the plaintiff team that won a $26 billion national settlement with opioid distributors and manufacturers that will provide thousands of U.S. communities with opioid recovery and remediation funds. In 2022, we also served on the negotiating committee responsible for additional national settlements with Teva/ Allergan and the three major chain pharmacies, bringing the total of opioids litigation settlements to date to nearly $50 billion.

The Valsartan MDL arose from an extensive Food and Drug Administration recall in the U.S. of generic hypertensive, prescription drugs ( “Valsartan”) that occurred after the FDA discovered that these valsartan drugs sold in the U.S. were contaminated with probable genotoxic human carcinogens in the form of nitrosamines. Plaintiffs allege that the contaminations resulted from defendants’ violations of state law and good manufacturing practices, and that defendants engaged in misconduct justifying the creation of a medical monitoring protocol to protect vulnerable consumers.

Following rigorous analysis of a fact record and expert testimony, Judge Kugler certified a Consumer Economic Class and a Third Party Payor class (e.g., insurers who paid for or reimbursed consumers for the medication), as well as Medical Monitoring classes. Specifically, the Court certified a Rule 23(b)(3) (“opt-out”) Class of Medical Monitoring as an Independent Claim, and a Rule 23(b)(2) (cohesive) Class of Medical Monitoring as a Remedy. The Court is requiring amendments to proposed subclasses, and also denied another class without prejudice.

“We are grateful for the Court’s close attention in this important case,” noted Ms. Geman, “and look forward to litigating claims on behalf of the classes.”

About Rachel Geman

Rachel Geman is a partner in Lieff Cabraser’s New York office and the Chair of the firm’s False Claims/Qui Tam practice group. Her practice is dedicated to representing whistleblowers, employees, and consumers in complex class action and False Claims Act matters. Rachel is also a pro bono community mediator.

“This was one of those rare cases where basically everything that we did, in terms of both the direct testimony that we put on and the cross-examination, went just as well as we could have hoped,” noted Richard.

Richard’s groundbreaking work on behalf of the City of San Francisco against opioid distributors is one of the matters that earned him a finalist spot for the California Legal Awards’ Attorney of the Year.

To read the full piece detailing Richard’s experience litigating San Francisco’s Opioid Bench Trial, visit The Recorder’s (subscription) website.

About Richard Heimann

A “lawyer’s lawyer,” Richard Heimann is one of the nation’s foremost trial attorneys, with extensive experience in complex securities, investor fraud and antitrust cases, including the historic settlements of the Wells Fargo and Boeing shareholder derivative suits, granted final approval in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Heimann has tried over 30 civil jury cases over more than four decades, and has served or serves as lead counsel in securities fraud actions including those against Petrobras, Navient, Wells Fargo, Merck, Bank of America, Schwab RMBS cases, LIBOR, Merrill Lynch, IndyMac, Broadcom, Tyco, Qwest, America Online, Peregrine, McKesson, Network Associates, Informix/Illustra, FPI/Agretech, California Micro Devices, and Scorpion I and II, representing both institutional and individual investors. In the spring of 2022, Heimann served as co-lead trial counsel in San Francisco’s successful bellwether opioids trial against manufacturers, distributors and dispensers of opioid drugs.