Judge tells Johnson & Johnson they were at fault for Oklahoma opioid crisis -- awards over $572 million

Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman filed his decision in the first-in-the-nation opioid trial Monday, saying that Johnson & Johnson was at fault for knowingly misleading doctors and the public about the addictive nature of the company's opioids.

The judge said that Johnson & Johnson and Janssen "compromised the health and safety" of the citizens of Oklahoma. He awarded Oklahoma more than $572 million that will go to an abatement plan to help solve the crisis in the state.

Other pharmaceutical companies have been willing to settle with the State of Oklahoma, who was among the first in the country to file lawsuits. The notorious Purdue Pharma settled with Oklahoma for $270 million. The funds delivered millions of dollars to drug research programs searching for a cure.

The six-week trial against Johnson & Johnson began in late May.

"This is very personal to all of us," said state attorney Reggie Whitten in a CBS interview with correspondent Omar Villafranca. "My partner lost a niece to this opioid epidemic. I lost my firstborn son to the opioid epidemic."

"They made money whether they sold their drugs or when somebody else sold opioids because they were supplying everybody else. And this 'one percent' thing, that's a complete canard," said Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter.

University of Kentucky law professor Richard Ausness, who has researched opioid litigation extensively, told ABC News that he thought the judge would find for the state.

"The judge will probably find in favor of (Oklahoma), but will decline to give it a huge damage award, particularly since Purdue, the real bad boy in all of this, was able to cap its liability at the relatively modest sum of $270 million," he said. "Whatever happens, the losing side will probably appeal, so the matter will drag on for several more years."

Read the full court decision below:

Oklahoma Opioid Verdict by Anonymous AUNuqBY08U on Scribd