Johnson & Johnson, McKesson Corp. and other opioid makers and distributors face demands they pay as much as $8 billion to cover fallout from a public-health crisis tied to the addictive painkillers in the first federal trial over the medicines.
Officials of two Ohio counties whose claims are slated to be heard by a jury in Cleveland next month contend the money is needed to combat an epidemic in their areas, allegedly created by illegal marketing and lax oversight of the painkillers, according to court papers.