Lawyers hired by Cook County to help press the county’s case against drug companies over the proliferation of opioid painkillers stand to pocket at least a quarter of Cook County’s cut of any settlement or dollar amount awarded by a court.
Cook County, the second largest county in the U.S., has added its name to the ever-growing list of local governments demanding the makers of some of the most prescribed opioid painkillers pay out, saying the companies owe big money for costs the county has incurred in treating painkiller addiction and dealing with its aftermath at the county’s hospitals and other institutions.
A federal appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of a suit, which alleged a Chicago-area drug maker cost union benefit plans money by pushing doctors to prescribe Depakote to union members for non-FDA approved uses. The judges ruled the union plans are too far removed from the drug maker's actions to stake a claim.
A Chicago federal judge has pulled the plug on a class action suit against electronic toymaker VTech, which alleged VTech did not protect parents' and childrens' personal data from a hacker, saying plaintiffs failed to show how the security breach harmed them.
A federal judge has tossed, with leave to amend, the bulk of a federal racketeering and fraud class action brought by an Ohio-based health insurer against Abbvie and other makers of testosterone drugs, saying the insurer has not yet backed up with enough particularity its allegations the drugmakers invented the condition known as “low T,” and, through false marketing to doctors, patients and insurers alike, induced insurers and others to pay far more for the drugs to treat the condition.