. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Sep 10.

Published in final edited form as: J Law Med Ethics. 2020 Jun;48(2):279–292. doi: 10.1177/1073110520935340

Table 2.

Opioid Litigation Waves

	1^st iteration (early 2000s)	2^nd iteration (2000s)	3^rd iteration (2000s to present)
Type of suit	Individual personal injury	Class action (resurging somewhat)	Government suits
Public perception of opioid analgesics	Prescribed liberally for pain	Prescribed liberally; growing concerns	Not appropriate for some chronic pain; over-prescribed
Claims	Design defect, negligent distribution, failure to warn, fraud	Similar to individual suits	Fraud, unjust enrichment, public nuisance, negligence, FDCA, CSA, RICO violations
Usual winner	Opioid companies. Successful defenses: product misuse, wrongful conduct, lack of causation	Opioid companies for failure of commonality requirement for class certification	Many settlements To be determined…

Notes: FDCA, Food Drug and Control Act; CSA, Controlled Substances Act; RICO, The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.