The Oklahoma State Supreme Court has overturned a 2019 opioid judgment against Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) amounting to $465 million.
Five of the six Oklahoma Supreme Court’s justices dismissed the state’s case claiming that Johnson & Johnson breached its “public nuisance” laws in its marketing of prescription opioid drugs. “Oklahoma public nuisance law does not extend to the manufacturing, marketing and selling of prescription opioids,” the five justices wrote in their majority opinion.
Johnson & Johnson had argued that the judgment was flawed, arguing that the state did not show evidence that Johnson & Johnson caused a public nuisance in Oklahoma and that its claims violated core principles of due process.
Johnson & Johnson said in a press release that its prior sales of prescription opioids were “appropriate and responsible” but that the company has stopped selling such drugs as part of a larger effort to focus on new drug develop…