Judge overseeing federal opioid suits issues gag order
Sides in settlement talks to resolve hundreds of cases.
A federal judge CLEVELAND — presiding over hundreds of lawsuits filed against drug companies admonished lawyers and parties on Tuesday not to tell reporters about what is said during settlement discussions.
In a two-paragraph order, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster wrote that participants in the negotiations, as well as lawyers and parties who are consulted about the negotiations, “shall maintain strict confidentiality as to the contents of those discussions.
“Attorneys, parties, and officials may publicly state they have met, or will meet, but nobody is to disclose to the media or any other outside party the contents of the discussions, or provide to the media assessments or commentary regarding those discussions,” Polster wrote.
Polster’s order comes less than a week after he brought attorneys and parties from across the country to Cleveland to discuss settling litigation between local governments and drug companies. Another session is scheduled for March.
Between and after sessions at the federal courthouse on Jan. 31, public officials spoke to journalists about what was going on in sessions that were closed to the public.
Among those who spoke to media outlets — including cleveland.com — were Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish. In addition, Bloomberg published a story Friday that detailed some of the discussions held during the closed-door sessions. The story was based on interviews with unnamed people who attended the sessions.
The talks included representatives of local governments telling Polster that having drugmaker Purdue Pharma take the 80-milligram version of the Oxycontin pill off the market would substantially help abate the crisis, according to Bloomberg.
States and local governments filed suits against drug manufacturers and distributors accusing them of misleading doctors and consumers about the addictive nature of opioids like OxyContin. The suits, which are still being filed, come amidst an opioid crisis that killed users in every corner of the country.
Many of the cases were consolidated under Polster, who was appointed by a federal panel in December to oversee the cases. He has signaled that he wants to see a settlement that includes several of the federal lawsuits he oversees and others over which he has no jurisdiction. Polster’s goal is to have money go toward treatment and to have doctors prescribe fewer opioids.