Johnson & Johnson to pay $150M in Washington opioid settlement

Johnson & Johnson Washington opioid settlement overview: 

• Who: Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay nearly $150 million as part of a settlement with the state of Washington. 
• Why: The settlement resolves claims about Johnson & Johnson’s alleged role in the opioid epidemic in Washington. 
• Where: The case was heard in King County Superior Court, Washington. 

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay nearly $150 million to the state of Washington to put an end to claims about the pharmaceutical company’s role in the opioid epidemic.

Around $123 million of the settlement funds will be split evenly between the Washington state government and other participating local governments, with the money intended to go toward treating addiction to opioids and curbing the crisis. 

The remaining approximately $26 million will be given to the Washington State Attorney General’s office to cover legal fees and costs, per the settlement agreement. 

Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson said the settlement amount is almost $50 million more than what the state would have received had he agreed to a previous settlement from June 2021 that was negotiated by the attorneys general from seven other states. 

Washington state had alleged in a lawsuit that Johnson & Johnson pushed opioid painkillers while simultaneously understating the risk of addiction. The company did not admit to any wrongdoing in agreeing to the Johnson & Johnson opioid settlement.

Johnson & Johnson to pay a lump sum of nearly $150 million to resolve opioid claims in Washington

The rejected settlement — which included Johnson & Johnson and three other drugmakers — would have netted Washington state and its local governments $98.9 million over a period of nine years. Per the new agreement, Johnson & Johnson will pay a lump sum of the entire $150 million settlement amount this fiscal year.

“We are standing up to some of the largest corporations in the world that fueled the epidemic in pursuit of profit, and we are winning critical resources that must be used to address the harm,” Ferguson said, in a statement. 

Johnson & Johnson will have 21 days to pay the settlement funds once the agreement is ratified by Washington’s local governments, according to Ferguson’s office. 

The pharmaceutical company and three others previously finalized a combined $26 billion in 2022 over their alleged roles in a nationwide opioid crisis, with the funds going to states, local governments and victims of the opioid epidemic. 

Have you been impacted by the opioid crisis in Washington state? Let us know in the comments.

The state of Washington is represented by Joshua Weissman, Jonathan Jacob Guss, Martha Rodriguez Lopez, Lia Elise Pernell, Kelsey E. Endres and Susan E. Llorens of the Washington State Attorney General’s Office.

The Johnson & Johnson Washington opioid settlement is In re: State of Washington v. Johnson & Johnson, et al., Case No. 20:2-cv-00184-8, in King County Superior Court, Washington. 

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