An Oklahoma judge on Monday found Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and its subsidiaries helped fuel the state’s opioid drug crisis and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $572 million to help abate the problem in the coming years. Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman’s ruling followed the first state opioid case to make it to trial and could help shape negotiations over roughly 1,500 similar lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments consolidated before a federal judge in Ohio. “The opioid crisis has ravaged the state of Oklahoma,” Balkman said before announcing the verdict.
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