Behind the historic opioid litigation with Paul Geller

10/31/23 • 62 min

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history

In the second episode of Re-Examination, Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd founding partner Paul Geller shares the inside story of how a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers, and states, counties, municipalities and even school districts banded together to secure more than $50 billion in settlements over the opioid crisis.

Among those who have paid for what has been called “one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine” are the thousands of communities that have been left to pick up the tab for everything from constant emergency room visits to expensive addiction treatments to the cleanup of degraded public areas like parks, sidewalks and libraries.

For the last six years, a group of plaintiffs’ lawyers and state attorneys general have sought to make pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies pay up. They have filed hundreds of lawsuits alleging they made misleading statements about the risks of opioid use and failed to execute safety protocols.

Paul Geller is one of the attorneys appointed by a federal judge to lead the case. In conversation with Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey, Paul explains how he and his colleagues approached telling the story of this national tragedy that left no defendant off the hook.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Previous Episode

Anton “Tony” Valukas on the demise of Lehman Brothers

In episode one of Re-Examination, senior Jenner & Block partner Anton “Tony” Valukas explains how he approached telling one of the most consequential and complicated stories of our time: the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

Once the world’s fourth largest investment bank, Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008. Its collapse contributed to the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of 1929.

Appointed examiner by the judge overseeing Lehman’s bankruptcy, Tony was tasked with explaining how an investment bank that had reported record revenues of nearly $60 billion less than eight months before fell so swiftly.
In the end, Tony and his Jenner & Block colleagues filed a nine-volume, 2,200-page account known as the Valukas report that became the definitive account of Lehman’s fall and set a new standard for investigating corporate failure.

In conversation with Infinite Global Head Writer Andrew Longstreth and M Coffey founder Murray Coffey, Valukas discusses his approach to producing the Valukas report, which was noted as much for its unimpeachable veracity as its illuminating use of storytelling.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Next Episode

The historic return of Bruce’s Beach with George Fatheree

In this episode, George Fatheree III talks about his journey leading to his representation of the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce, whose land in the city of Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County was taken away from them a century ago.
Justice for the Bruces gained momentum in April 2021 when Los Angeles County Supervisors Janice Hahn and Holly Mitchell announced their intention to have Los Angeles County return the beachfront property to the Bruce’s legal heirs.
But the return was not a sure thing. Opposition loomed. There were thorny legal questions to answer, tax implications to consider, and legislative hurdles to clear.
At the time, a partner at Munger Tolles & Olson who would later leave for Sidley Austin, Fatheree had an ideal background for the assignment, which included politics, real estate, and projects supporting the African-American community. At Munger and Sidley, he was also backed by multidisciplinary teams, who eventually devoted more than 1,000 pro bono hours to creating a model for other governments to correct historical injustices.
Their work paid off. On July 20, 2022, the Board of Supervisors returned ownership of Bruce’s Beach to the closest living legal heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. It was the first time any government in the United States had returned land wrongly taken from a Black family.

Thank you for listening. To learn more, visit Infinite Global and M Coffey.

Re-Examination: Conversations with the storytellers behind legal history - Behind the historic opioid litigation with Paul Geller

Transcript

[00:00:00] Paul: This is a man made public health crisis. It shouldn't, it was not necessary, it shouldn't have happened. And it was introduced by Purdue and the Sacklers, but others joined in and it became out of control. In

[00:00:20] Andrew: 1996, Purdue Pharma introduced a new painkiller called OxyContin. At a company retreat that year, CEO Richard Sackler said it was the most important product launch in the company's history. As recounted by the jou