Opioid manufacturers sued by the state of Oklahoma were divided in their opinion over whether the state’s case must be tried before a judge or a jury.
After Oklahoma Attorney General, Mike Hunter, dropped some of the state's claims last week, Johnson & Johnson filed a motion in Cleveland County District Court on Tuesday, requesting for a jury trial. However, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and Allergan filed a motion in favor of a trial before a judge, if the state agrees to certain conditions. A hearing session on these differing motions will be held soon.
Last month, Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family agreed to pay $270 million to settle claims filed by the state of Oklahoma, which blamed the company and its owners for the national opioid crisis. A majority of the settlement amount will go towards creating a new center for opioid addiction treatment and research in Tulsa.
