(l-r) Donna Welch of Kirkland & Ellis, John Hueston of Hueston Hennigan, Mike Yoder of O'Melveny & Myers, and Collie James of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius. Courtesy photos

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Defense wins just don't get much bigger.

Lawyers for Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Teva, Allergan and Endo this week were able to fend off public nuisance claims stemming from the opioid crisis brought by three large California counties and the city of Oakland. The plaintiffs claimed drug makers marketed and promoted painkillers in misleading ways leading to medically inappropriate prescriptions, drug abuse and overdoses.

But after months of trial starting in April and multiple days of closing arguments this fall, Orange County, California Superior Court Judge Peter Wilson this week issued a tentative decision Monday siding with the defendants. "There is simply no evidence to show that the rise in prescriptions was not the result of the medically appropriate provision of pain medications to patients in need," he wrote.