North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer Blog
Most of you have heard reports about the devastating effects of opioids. Millions of people have become addicted, and many of those people have overdosed and died while taking the addictive pain medication. Even in cases when death does not occur, addiction has caused job losses, ravaged families, and cost billions of dollars in treatment for victims.
Up to this point, most of the recent litigation involving opioids has involved lawsuits against the makers of opioids on behalf of states and local governments. The essential complaint is this: [Blank] State has incurred millions of dollars in losses because citizens in the state became addicted to opioids and required government assistance in the form of hospitalization, treatment programs, unemployment, welfare, and other governmental expenditures.
But what about individuals? It is plain to see how a state or county can articulate damages from the direct and indirect costs of widespread opioid addiction, but individuals have been injured as well. In 2018, do these individuals have valid claims? Increasingly, it appears the answer is yes. And if so, this litigation will eventually be massive.