Opioid-makers want official penalized

CLEVELAND — Several drug manufacturers targeted in lawsuits over the opioid epidemic have asked a federal judge in Cleveland to sanction the man who is Ohio’s attorney general and governor-elect, along with two other lawyers, for statements they made in recent television interviews.

Friday’s motion said statements by Republican Attorney General and Gov.-elect Mike DeWine and the others on an episode of CBS’ 60 Minutes were calculated to taint potential jury pools, Cleveland.com reported.

DeWine and attorneys Mike Moore and Burton LeBlanc were part of a Dec. 16 segment on the newsmagazine show about litigation over the role of big pharmaceutical companies in the deadly opioid epidemic.

Correspondent Bill Whitaker explored topics including the value of potential damages and data on pill distribution in states and cities collected by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

The motion was filed by attorneys for several drug manufacturers and distributors, including Cardinal Health, Endo, AmerisourceBergen and Purdue Pharma. It alleges DeWine, Moore and LeBlanc were part of a “concerted campaign” by lawyers representing state and local governments “to taint potential jury pools … through misleading, inflammatory, and improper public statements.”

The motion asks the judge to impose a gag order and other sanctions. The defendants claim the men’s statements represented “a flagrant violation of their ethical obligations as attorneys practicing before this Court and threatens defendants’ rights to a fair adjudication of the claims asserted against them.”

AP/The Olympian/STEVE BLOOM Caution tape marks the area around a downed tree Sunday near Nisqually, Wash. Windstorms battered parts of the state Saturday, leaving hundreds of thousands of people without power.