As Utah counties line up in court to face off with drug companies accused of contributing to the state’s opioid epidemic, they have disagreed with each other about whether to merge their cases.
Some counties — and the drug companies they’re suing — agree that the flurry of arguments and paperwork that occur before trial will cost less and avoid potentially lengthy appeals if the cases initially are combined before one judge, and later sent back to separate counties for trial.
But others say they’ll be more likely to win if they keep the entire process in their own counties, and consolidating cases would only make it easier for the drug companies to leverage lowball settlements.