After federal jurors in Cleveland found Walgreens, Walmart and CVS liable for public-nuisance claims tied to the opioid epidemic, U.S. District Senior Judge Dan Polster awarded the two Ohio counties who brought the suit $650 million in abatement funds.

But with the verdict pending on appeal, the Sixth Circuit certified a question to the Ohio Supreme Court asking whether the Ohio Product Liability Act abrogates the counties’ common law public-nuisance claim. Plaintiffs argued that the law didn’t bar the equitable relief—funds to deal with forward-looking abatement activites—they were seeking and that it only applied to defective, not dangerous, products.