Jackson: State Court Docket Watch: Oklahoma ex rel. Hunter v. Johnson & Johnson
In Oklahoma ex rel. Hunter v. Johnson & Johnson, the Oklahoma Supreme Court overturned a $465 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) after the district court found J&J liable for violating Oklahoma’s public nuisance law when it manufactured, marketed, and sold prescription opioids. The Supreme Court, in a 5-1 ruling, held that the state’s public nuisance statute, which historically has governed local land-based disturbances, does not apply to manufacturing, marketing, and selling products. In lone dissent, Justice James Edmondson found that the state’s public nuisance law covers manufacturing-related acts and argued that the majority read the statute too narrowly.