November 6, 2025 — Kellogg Hansen was featured in Law360’s Legal Lions after the Fourth Circuit ruled for its clients, Cabell County and the City of Huntington, West Virginia, in their appeal following a bellwether trial in the national opioid multidistrict litigation. The Court of Appeals vacated a district court’s judgment for drug distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corp.

In a published opinion, a three-judge panel held that the conditions caused by overdistribution of opioids may constitute a public nuisance under West Virginia law. The panel also held that the district court misconstrued drug distributors’ obligations under the Controlled Substances Act, which requires them to maintain a system for identifying suspicious opioid orders and reporting those orders to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Cabell County and the City of Huntington, West Virginia, are represented by David C. Frederick, Lillian V. Smith, Ariela M. Migdal, and Matthew N. Drecun of Kellogg Hansen. Huntington is also represented by Louis M. Bograd and Michael J. Quirk of Motley Rice, and Cabell County by Anthony J. Majestro and Christina L. Smith of Powell & Majestro.

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