Months after the landmark opioid trial, an Oklahoma judge reduced the $572 million verdict against Johnson & Johnson (J&J) to $465 million Friday. According to the order, the $107 million reduction is due to a calculation error.
Back in April the State of Oklahoma alleged that J&J’s false and misleading marketing practices contributed to the state’s opioid epidemic. The lawsuit culminated in a seven-week, non-jury trial in July, where Judge Thad Balkman ruled against J&J.
The court found that J&J’s false and misleading marketing created a public nuisance. To abate the nuisance, J&J was liable to pay for rehabilitation and treatment services for those suffering from opioid addiction. Portions of J&J’s judgement were to be allocated toward the treatment of neonatal abstinence syndrome, which affects babies who are opioid dependent due to the mother’s use of narcotics while pregnant.
In the original verdict, Balkman designated $107,683,000 to address neonatal abstinence syndrome in Oklahoma. However, in the recently revised final order, Balkman acknowledged that the number contained three unwarranted zeroes; and effectively changed it to the correct number: $107,683.
J&J provided a brief statement, claiming they plan on appealing the revised judgement as it is “not supported by the facts or the law.”