By Destiney Dingess, The Herald-Dispatch
HUNTINGTON — The West Virginia Supreme Court on Monday declined to answer a certified question in the years-long opioid case in the lawsuit by Huntington and Cabell County against drug companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.
In its 3-2 vote, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court.
The certified question asked the Supreme Court, “Under West Virginia’s common law, can conditions caused by the distribution of a controlled substance constitute a public nuisance, and, if so, what are the elements of such a public nuisance claim?”
In January, attorneys for the city and county argued to the court that they were not asking it to disturb the fact finding. They asked the court to say that the U.S. District Court got the legal standard wrong, which they said was the point of the certified question.
Attorney David Frederick, on behalf of the city and county, argued the distributors did not comply with legal requirements under state and federal law and, as a result, created a massive public nuisance.
“We must answer only questions of law that rest on an undisputed factual record, at times, this Court has declined to answer certified questions when the factual record was undeveloped,” State Supreme Court Justice C. Haley Bunn said in the opinion.
