A coal company controlled by the family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice must pay $270,000 to a nonprofit land protection group and comply with selenium discharge limits under a settlement approved by a federal judge.
BLUEFIELD – A one-year statute of limitations should limit the damages Cabell County and the City of Huntington can seek from three large drug distributors, according to attorneys for the companies.
During a February 8 hearing before U.S. District Judge David Faber, lawyers for AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corp. said West Virginia law establishes a one-year statute of limitations for public nuisance case. Because of that, the companies say any claims made before 2016 shouldn’t be included in the cases that originally were filed in January and March of 2017.
“They (the plaintiffs) are going to tell you that no statute of limitations applies in this case because they seek equitable relief,” Cardinal Health attorney Ashley Hardin told Faber. “But whatever label we end up putting on that relief does not affect the running of the statute of limitations.”
sadams@newsandsentinel.com
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey briefs the press about a $10 million settlement with opioid marketing consultant McKinsey and Company. (Photo by Steven Allen Adams)
CHARLESTON The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office announced Thursday an agreement with a consultant accused of helping pharmaceutical companies with marketing of addictive painkillers, fueling the state’s opioid crisis.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said his office reached a settlement agreement for $10 million with McKinsey and Company Inc. Morrisey’s deal is separate from the $573 million settlement agreement between McKinsey and 47 states and the District of Columbia.
“McKinsey’s improper efforts helped to increase the sale and use of opioids in West Virginia,” Morrisey said during a press conference Thursday morning at the State Capitol Building in Charleston.