Flooding the Zone Does Not Work for Opioid Plaintiffs in Maine

Litigation attorney Eric Alexander authored a Drug & Device Law article on the recent case of Eastern Maine Medical Center v. Walgreen Co., highlighting the tactic of "flooding the zone" with excessive claims and its use in opioid litigation. In this case, the Supreme Judicial Court of Maine dismissed an extensive 509-page complaint against multiple defendants for failing to meet the state's legal requirements for clarity and specificity. Mr. Alexander analyzes how the plaintiffs' broad approach, initially successful in tying numerous defendants to opioid liability, ultimately faltered because of the lack of specific allegations and the court's increasing scrutiny of generalized claims. He concluded his article by speculating that the case in Maine, which came shortly after a similar ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court, could indicate a new trend in civil opioid litigation.

READ: Flooding the Zone Fails for Opioid Plaintiffs in Maine