Private Law Theory

David A Dana, ‘Public Nuisance Law: When Politics Fail’ (May 26, 2021), available at SSRN. Public nuisance is in the news again. Three important opioid cases have been recently decided. In November plaintiffs lost a bench trial in California state court, and eight days later, the Oklahoma Supreme Court reversed a $465 million trial verdict, holding that, as a matter of law, public nuisance does not extend to the manufacturing or marketing of prescription drugs. About a week later, a jury in a bellwether, the Ohio federal MDL, held that pharmacies caused a public nuisance by failing to respond to curb medically unnecessary prescriptions. David Dana’s article offers a bold prescription to courts about how to approach public nuisance, including the opioid litigation … (more)

[Anthony Sebok, JOTWELL, 3 January]

First posted 2022-01-10 16:00:06