Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier discusses Fox Nation’s new documentary on the opioid crisis.
The first federal trial on the opioid crisis will proceed starting on October 21 in Cleveland after two efforts to delay were denied by a federal appeals court on Thursday.
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The path is now cleared for the trial in Ohio's Summit and Cuyahoga counties – these are just two of the over 2,000 local governments and other entities that have sued companies that make, distribute and sell prescription opioids.
One effort to halt the federal trial came from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, who argued that it should not proceed because states – not local governments – possess the sole authority to file such lawsuits on behalf of their citizens.
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Yost’s request had the support of several other states. He said that, since local governments are subdivisions of the state, the state’s claims should preempt theirs under a legal doctrine called “parens patriae.” Ohio is suing manufacturers and distributors in separate cases in state court.
The decision came from a three-judge panel from the Cincinnati-based Sixth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which noted that trial preparations have been made already and that Ohio did not object when counties in the state started to make claims against the drug industry.
"In view of these circumstances, we decline to exercise our discretion to deploy 'one of the most potent weapons in the judicial arsenal,'" the judges wrote, paraphrasing previous case law.
“The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals did not say the state’s argument was incorrect or not valid, but that the issue should be addressed with the trial court,” Yost said in a statement. “At this time, we are reviewing our options.”
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