Trial against opioid distributors wraps up in West Virginia

Attorneys for major drug distributors have made their final pleas to a federal judge to absolve them while placing the blame elsewhere for a prescription pill health emergency in a part of West Virginia

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Attorneys for major drug distributors made their final pleas to a federal judge Wednesday to absolve them while placing the blame elsewhere for a prescription pill health emergency in a part of West Virginia. Defense attorneys tried to find holes in assertions by the plaintiffs and their witnesses as two-day closing arguments wrapped up in the bench trial of a lawsuit against distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. In a state that has had the nation’s highest fatal opioid overdose rate, Cabell County and the city of Huntington are seeking more than $2.5 billion from the distributors that would go toward abatement efforts. A verdict isn't expected for at least three weeks. Some 81 million pills were sent to the community of about 100,000 along the Ohio River from 2006 to 2014. The lawsuit accused the companies of creating a “public nuisance” with the onslaught and ignoring the signs that the area was being ravaged by addiction.