![]() ![]() "To the extent that it involves misrepresentation, falsehoods and continuing ongoing obfuscation and obstruction, I think it is extraordinary," Spencer said. Benjamin Spencer, dean of William & Mary Law School and an expert on civil procedure, said the judge in this case documented in detail how Endo and the company's lawyers crossed into dangerous legal territory. "As a firm, we are deeply committed to the integrity of the legal process," the statement said.īut A. "Endo strongly disagrees with the.court's orders, which it believes are procedurally, factually, and legally deficient," the statement read.Īrnold & Porter, the lead law firm representing Endo in the case, also sent NPR a statement saying it was disappointed by Moody's order. In a statement, the company said it made a good-faith effort to provide relevant documents and would appeal the judgment. Moody also began a separate legal process in his court designed to identify attorneys who allegedly made false statements and determine what sanctions they might face.Ī spokesperson for Endo Pharmaceuticals declined to be interviewed by NPR. Anything less would make a mockery of the attorneys who play by the rules and the legal system," Moody wrote. "Although this is a harsh sanction, justice demands it under the circumstances. He noted that plaintiffs have sued for $2.4 billion and "have expert testimony which supports that amount." In his order, Moody concluded Endo's behavior was so egregious he was justified in issuing a "default judgment" against the company - effectively skipping the civil trial and finding the company liable for harm caused by the opioid crisis. "When we got this new tranche of documents we discovered that people went on and off all the time." "This was the testimony under penalty of perjury by Endo," Stranch told NPR. According to the company, once a prescriber was placed on the so-called "global exclude" list, they stayed on. One Endo executive testified that the company stopped marketing its opioids to health care providers if their prescribing practices raised safety concerns. The court also found some of the documents contradicted sworn testimony provided by Endo witnesses. The company faces a wave of opioid-related lawsuits and previously settled other cases with counties in Ohio in 2019 and with the state of Oklahoma last year.Īccording to Moody's order, Endo's team made at least a dozen false statements during court proceedings and withheld hundreds of thousands of documents, many of them directly relevant to the case. That misuse also contributed to outbreaks of infectious diseases including HIV and Hepatitis C. Local governments suing the company have demanded roughly $2.4 billion in damages.Įndo ended sales of Opana ER in 2017 after the Food & Drug Administration found it was often abused by people who crushed, dissolved and injected the medication. Almost all our crime is driven by drugs," he told NPR. "It's overdose deaths, it's people losing their jobs, losing their dignity. It has really ripped at the fabric of our community," said Barry Staubus, district attorney in Sullivan County Tennessee. They claim Endo's opioid medication Opana ER was marketed aggressively in the state without proper safeguards, contributing to high rates of addiction and death. Stranch's legal team filed a series of complaints with the court about Endo's conduct in the case, which led to the judge's order.Ī controversial opioid, a devastating epidemicĪt issue is a lawsuit filed in 2017 by county prosecutors and other local government officials in eastern Tennessee. ![]() " lawyers crossed the line and worked with the company to subvert the court's orders and then made false statements to the court about it," he said. In a statement emailed to NPR the company said it will appeal the judgement.īut Gerard Stranch, one of the attorneys suing the drugmaker on behalf of local governments in Tennessee, said Endo and its lawyers "conspired to hide the truth" over a period of years as the fact-finding phase of the trial proceeded. Moody in a judgment issued on April 6.Įndo denies wrongdoing. "It appears to the court that Endo and its attorneys, after delaying trial, have resorted to trying to improperly corrupt the record," wrote Chancellor E.G. The judge presiding over the civil trial also concluded the drugmaker and its attorneys made at least a dozen false statements during the pretrial fact-finding process. A state judge in Tennessee ruled the drug company Endo Pharmaceuticals is liable for harm caused by their opioid drug, Opana ER.Ī state court in Tennessee has punished Endo Pharmaceuticals for improperly withholding a vast trove of documents relating to the sale and marketing of its opioid medication Opana ER. ![]()
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