Fentanyl Lawsuits: Types, Settlements, and Key Cases

Fentanyl lawsuits span several distinct tracks: the national opioid settlements against drug manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and pharmacy chains, which collectively exceed $54 billion; fentanyl-specific cases like the Insys Therapeutics prosecution over the Subsys spray; product liability suits over defective fentanyl patches; a growing wave of claims against Snapchat for allegedly enabling drug sales to teenagers; civil wrongful death cases against individual dealers; and federal indictments of Chinese chemical companies that supply fentanyl precursors.¹

National Opioid Settlements

Most of the money recovered so far has come through consolidated multidistrict litigation in which thousands of state and local governments sued the opioid industry. The resulting national settlements are the largest body of fentanyl-related recovery to date.

Drug Manufacturers

Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceutical agreed to pay up to $5 billion over nine years, with payments beginning in 2022. The deal explicitly covers fentanyl-containing products, including the Duragesic patch and the Nucynta painkiller line. Johnson & Johnson stopped selling prescription opioids in the United States, agreed to stop lobbying on opioid issues, and committed to share clinical trial data through a Yale University open-access project. The company did not admit liability.²³

Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay up to $4.25 billion over 13 years, with payments starting in January 2024, and Allergan agreed to pay up to $2.02 billion over seven years. Both companies are barred from promoting opioids; Teva must eliminate sales-based incentives for marketing employees and submit to a five-year compliance monitor, and Allergan must stop manufacturing and selling opioids through approximately 2033.⁴⁵

Distributors and Pharmacies

The three largest U.S. drug distributors, AmerisourceBergen (now Cencora), Cardinal Health, and McKesson, agreed in July 2021 to pay up to $21 billion over 18 years. They must fund a centralized independent clearinghouse to track opioid distribution and flag suspicious orders, and their sales staff are prohibited from interfering with anti-diversion compliance.⁶

Pharmacy chains followed. Walgreens agreed to up to $5.52 billion over 15 years and CVS to up to $4.9 billion over 10 years.⁷ Walmart agreed to $3.1 billion, with most paid in the first year, and Kroger to roughly $1.4 billion over 11 years.¹ None admitted wrongdoing. All are required to monitor, report, and share data on suspicious opioid prescriptions.⁸

Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers

Purdue Pharma’s resolution took the longest path. In June 2024, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the bankruptcy code does not authorize releasing claims against non-debtors like the Sackler family without affected claimants’ consent, invalidating the original deal’s liability shield for the Sacklers. On November 18, 2025, a revised plan, Purdue’s Sixteenth Amended bankruptcy plan, received final court approval with support from more than 99 percent of voting creditors. It provides for over $7.4 billion in distributions, and officials said the total value could exceed that figure. All U.S. states except Oklahoma, which maintains a separate settlement, have signed on.¹

McKinsey & Company

McKinsey, which advised Purdue on strategies to boost OxyContin sales, reached a $573 million settlement with 47 states, D.C., and five U.S. territories in February 2021. The firm agreed to maintain an online public repository of its internal opioid-related documents and is banned from advising on Schedule II and III narcotics.⁶ McKinsey later settled with counties and municipalities for $207 million and with school districts for $23 million, and as of October 2024 was reported to be facing at least $500 million more in a Department of Justice probe.¹

Insys Therapeutics and the Subsys Fentanyl Spray

The most dramatic fentanyl-specific corporate case targeted Insys Therapeutics, maker of the fentanyl spray Subsys. In June 2019, Insys agreed to a $225 million global resolution with the Department of Justice to settle criminal and civil investigations. Its operating subsidiary pleaded guilty to five counts of mail fraud, and the company entered a five-year deferred prosecution agreement.⁹

Prosecutors alleged Insys paid kickbacks to doctors through sham speaker programs, lavish entertainment, and jobs for practitioners’ relatives, inducing them to prescribe Subsys to non-cancer patients. Employees at the company’s “Reimbursement Center” used scripted false diagnoses to trick insurers into approving the prescriptions.¹⁰

In May 2019, a federal jury in Boston convicted five Insys leaders of racketeering conspiracy: founder John Kapoor, former national sales director Richard Simon, regional sales directors Sunrise Lee and Joseph Rowan, and former vice president Michael Gurry. Former CEO Michael Babich and former sales vice president Alec Burlakoff had already pleaded guilty.¹⁰ Kapoor was sentenced in January 2020 to 66 months in prison and released in June 2023.¹¹ In August 2023, a bankruptcy judge ordered him to repay approximately $6 million in legal fees the company had funded for his unsuccessful defense. The Insys Liquidation Trust continues to pursue civil claims against Kapoor and other former executives.¹²

Defective Fentanyl Patch Cases

A separate track of product liability litigation has targeted fentanyl transdermal patches, particularly the Duragesic patch made by Janssen Pharmaceutica and ALZA Corporation. Plaintiffs allege the gel-based patches leaked fentanyl onto patients’ skin at dangerously high rates.

In November 2008, a Cook County, Illinois, jury awarded the family of Janice DiCosolo $16.56 million after finding a defective Duragesic patch caused her death in February 2004. Her bloodstream contained more than fifteen times the amount of fentanyl the patch was designed to deliver. With interest, the judgment grew to about $20 million, and the Illinois Court of Appeals affirmed it in full in June 2011. An FDA investigation separately found manufacturing deficiencies and quality control problems at ALZA, leading to a recall of millions of patches.¹³ Fentanyl patches were first recalled in 2005, and lawsuits have been filed against Janssen, ALZA, Sandoz, Mylan, and Watson Pharmaceuticals.

Snapchat and Social Media Lawsuits

A newer front targets Snap Inc., parent of Snapchat. Families allege the platform’s design features, including disappearing messages and a map-based interface connecting users with nearby accounts, operate as an open marketplace for dealers selling fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills to teenagers.

As of mid-2026, 63 families have filed fentanyl-related lawsuits against Snap. The victims were between 14 and 22 years old, and only two survived.¹⁴ The lead plaintiff, Kim Osterman, lost her son to a fentanyl overdose in 2021 after he contacted a dealer on the platform.

Snap’s primary defense was Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which generally shields internet companies from liability for user content. In January 2024, California Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff rejected that defense, ruling the families’ claims were not about dealers’ messages but about “Snapchat’s unreasonably dangerous design that facilitates the sale of illegal drugs.” It was the first time a court allowed parents to proceed with claims holding a social media company liable for illicit drug sales to minors on its platform.¹⁵¹⁶ In December 2024, the California Court of Appeals denied Snap’s petition for discretionary review, allowing the cases to move into discovery. Snap can still raise Section 230 defenses in future proceedings.¹⁴

Federal social media harm cases, including those against Snap, are consolidated in MDL No. 3047 before District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers in the Northern District of California, with 2,664 cases pending as of June 2026.¹⁷ No global settlement has been reached between Snap and the fentanyl plaintiffs.¹⁸ The FBI is also actively investigating Snapchat’s role in fentanyl poisoning deaths and the distribution of fentanyl-laced pills through the platform.¹⁴

Civil Suits Against Individual Dealers

An emerging category involves families suing individual drug dealers in civil court, separate from criminal prosecution. In what is believed to be the first case of its kind, the parents of 20-year-old Alexandra Capelouto won a $5.8 million civil wrongful death judgment against Brandon McDowell, the man who sold her a fentanyl-laced pill. The Superior Court of Riverside County found McDowell liable for selling harmful narcotics with “willful and malicious” intent. A subsequent ruling in federal bankruptcy court ensured the judgment could not be discharged in bankruptcy. McDowell is serving a nine-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2022 to possession with intent to distribute fentanyl.¹³

The Capelouto family is also among the families suing Snapchat. Matt Capelouto founded the nonprofit Stop Drug Homicide and has advocated for “Alexandra’s Law,” which would create a formal legal warning for drug offenders that could support murder charges if their distributed substances later cause a death.¹³

Indictments of Chinese Precursor Suppliers

The federal government has also used criminal law against the overseas supply chain. Nearly all precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit fentanyl originate in China. In October 2023, the Department of Justice unsealed eight indictments against China-based chemical companies and their employees in the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, charging fentanyl trafficking conspiracy, attempted importation of fentanyl precursors, and international money laundering. Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized over 1,000 kilograms of precursor chemicals during the investigation.¹⁹ The same day, the U.S. Treasury designated 28 individuals and entities tied to international illicit drug trafficking.²⁰

In November 2024, a separate indictment was unsealed against Hubei Aoks Bio-Tech Co. Ltd. of Wuhan and four of its senior leaders. Prosecutors said the company shipped fentanyl precursors to at least 100 countries between 2016 and 2023, falsely labeling shipments as furniture parts, vases, and makeup. They alleged the company noted internally that its fentanyl precursors were “most popular in Mexico” and sold in 25-kilogram drums capable of producing 10 million pills. China’s Ministry of Public Security took action to dissolve the company and arrest the indicted individuals.²¹

Where the Settlement Money Is Going

With more than $54 billion in opioid settlements reached, whether the money is reaching affected communities has become its own question.²² More than 25 states have adopted guiding principles developed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that prioritize evidence-based spending, youth prevention, racial equity, and transparency.²³ A national database tracking actual expenditures, maintained through a partnership between Shatterproof, KFF Health News, and Johns Hopkins, published its second year of data in November 2025.

New York offers a concrete example. As of late 2025, the state’s Office of Addiction Services and Supports had made more than $454 million in opioid settlement funds available, including $10 million for fentanyl and xylazine test strips, nearly $15 million for naloxone distribution, over $22 million for low-threshold buprenorphine treatment, more than $10 million for medication-assisted treatment programs in jails, and $12.6 million for drug-user health hubs and syringe exchange programs.²⁴ Researchers have warned that common pitfalls include using settlement money to plug budget holes, spending too quickly without reserving funds for long-term prevention, and failing to track whether programs are working.²²

1
Opioid Settlement Tracker. Global Settlement Tracker
2
Johnson & Johnson. Johnson & Johnson Statement on Nationwide Opioid Settlement Agreement
3
National Opioid Settlement. Janssen Settlement Agreement
4
Congressional Research Service. Opioid Settlement Terms
5
Massachusetts Attorney General. AG Healey Announces $6.6 Billion Nationwide Settlement With Teva and Allergan
6
National Association of Attorneys General. Opioids
7
North Carolina Attorney General. AG Stein Announces $11B Opioid Settlement With CVS and Walgreens
8
New Jersey Attorney General. AG Platkin Announces NJ Has Joined Nationwide Settlements Totaling $20.1 Billion
9
U.S. Department of Justice. Opioid Manufacturer Insys Therapeutics Agrees to Enter $225 Million Global Resolution
10
U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Founder and Four Executives of Insys Therapeutics Convicted of Racketeering Conspiracy
11
U.S. Department of Justice. Founder and Former Chairman of Board of Insys Therapeutics Sentenced to 66 Months in Prison
12
Reid Collins. Reid Collins Obtains Ruling to Recoup $6 Million in Legal Fees From Insys Founder
13
ABC7. Riverside Man Who Sold Fentanyl-Laced Pill Liable for $5.8 Million
14
Social Media Victims. Snapchat Lawsuit Fentanyl
15
Bloomberg Law. Snap Not Protected by Section 230 in Illicit Fentanyl Sales Case
16
Courthouse News Service. Judge Declines to Trim Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Snapchat Over Fentanyl Overdoses
17
Motley Rice. Snapchat Lawsuits
18
Consumer Notice. Snapchat Lawsuit
19
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Announces Eight Indictments Against China-Based Chemical Manufacturing Companies
20
PBS NewsHour. U.S. Announces Sweeping Action Against Chinese Fentanyl Supply Chain Producers
21
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Chinese Chemical Company Senior Leaders Indicted for Suspected Fentanyl Manufacturing
22
RAND Corporation. Fund Allocation
23
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Opioid Principles
24
New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports. FY 2023 Opioid Settlement Fund Initiatives