The nation’s three largest drug distributors and a major pharmaceutical manufacturer announced Friday that a supermajority of states and localities had accepted the terms of their $26 billion offer to settle thousands of civil claims related to the deadly opioid crisis. The first checks are expected to go out in early April.
Washington Post: Major drug distributors and J&J finalize opioid settlement, launching nationwide funding
or drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson finalized a $26 billion agreement on Friday to bring relief to states and communities affected by the opioid epidemic, in what lawyers say is a turning point in the deadly public health crisis.
Time Magazine: Johnson & Johnson and Distributors Finalize Landmark $26 Billion Opioid Settlement
Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors finalized nationwide settlements over their role in the opioid addiction crisis Friday, an announcement that clears the way for $26 billion to flow to nearly every state and local government in the U.S.
Small WV newspaper takes on Big Tech for monopolizing digital media
Charleston Gazette-Mail owner Doug Reynolds discusses the paper’s antitrust lawsuit against Facebook and Google.
West Virginia newspaper sues Facebook, Google for manipulating digital-advertising market
The owner of a West Virginia newspaper has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet Inc., Google’s parent company, and Facebook, claiming they are manipulating the digital advertising market and making it harder for newspapers to survive.
These local newspapers say Facebook and Google are killing them. Now they’re fighting back.
“There is no financial stake large enough,” to make up for what’s happened to the newspaper industry in the past two decades, said Farrell, the lead lawyer in HD Media’s suit against the tech giants. Nationwide, more than 2,000 local newspapers have shuttered since 2004; half of all newsroom jobs have been eliminated. That tragic trend has only accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, just when the information they provide is most needed.
Google, Facebook hit with federal antitrust suit by West Virginia newspaper publisher
“The freedom of the press is not at stake; the press itself is at stake,” lawyers Paul T. Farrell Jr., Paul J. Geller and Clayton J. Fitzsimmons wrote for HD Media.