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Financial Impact Of The Opioid Crisis On Local Government: Quantifying Costs For Litigation And Policymaking, Elizabeth Weeks
Financial Impact Of The Opioid Crisis On Local Government: Quantifying Costs For Litigation And Policymaking, Elizabeth Weeks
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The opioids epidemic has had a significant impact on individuals and communities, including local governments responsible for serving and protecting those affected individuals. This is the first study of its kind to consider whether those local government costs are quantifiable, a question that has salience both for pending opioid litigation in federal and state courts and for local planning and budgeting decisions. This article first provides a detailed description of the opioid litigation landscape, including the federal multidistrict litigation (MDL) in Ohio, the Native American tribes’ actions, and various procedural and other hurdles that local government plaintiffs face in seeking …
Nudges And Norms In Multidistrict Litigation: A Response To Engstrom, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
Nudges And Norms In Multidistrict Litigation: A Response To Engstrom, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch
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On paper, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure apply equally to billion-dollar opioid allegations and small-stakes claims for $75,000.01. In practice, however, judges and attorneys in high-stakes multidistrict proceedings like those over opioids have invented a smattering of procedures that you’ll never find indexed in the Federal Rules: plaintiff fact sheets, short form complaints, science days, bellwether trials, census orders, inactive dockets, and Lone Pine orders to name but a few. In a world where settlement is the prevailing currency, norms take root. But as norms blossom, the stabilizing features of the federal rules—balance, predictability, and structural protections—can wither. As …