A Cleveland judge says the U.S. government has punted on the nationwideopioid epidemic. So he’s grabbing the ball andrunning with it.

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U.S. District Judge Daniel Polster has summoned pharmaexecutives, law enforcement, government officials and lawyers tohis court on Wednesday as he tries to forge a deal that wouldaddress the crisis and resolve more than 200 lawsuits stemming from it.

It’s a daringstrategy even for a 20-year veteran judge who doesn’t shy away fromseemingly intractable conflicts. Polster has said he hopes tostrike a deal this year to offset the billions of dollars in costsU.S. municipalities face in dealing with an epidemic that claims150 American lives each day.

“It would be fantastic if he can put together a settlement thatreally addresses these issues in that short a period,” said JaneEggen, a law professor at Widener University in Delaware whoteaches mass-tort law. It’s an “ambitious way to start.”

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The rising body count and drain on public coffers spurredPolster to call the summit, putting on hold federal lawsuitsagainst opioid makers including Purdue Pharma Inc., Johnson & Johnsonand Endo International Plc and drugdistributors McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health Inc. and others.

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“This is an unusual case,” the 66-year-old Harvard Law Schoolgraduate said in an interview. “The problem is urgent,life-threatening and ongoing. I took this step because I thought itwould be the most effective path.”

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Polster doesn’t hide from controversy. In February, he took aswipe at President Donald Trump for questioning the fairness offederal judges. A public office holder who makes such comments, hesaid, “calls into question his or her own legitimacy.”

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Two years ago, he helped mediate a deal on the heightenedsecurity zone outside the Republican convention in Cleveland,cutting the planned 3.5 square miles in half and creating newspaces for protesters.

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Polster pushed for months to reach a deal in a 1999 disputebetween the siblings who owned the San Francisco 49ers footballteam, according to the Mercury News. Denise DeBartolo Yorksued to remove her brother Eddie, who countersued in Ohio. She gotthe team and he stepped away.

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The former federal prosecutor is also something of anenvironmentalist. His wife Deborah Coleman encouraged him to startcycling in 2007 instead of driving, The Cleveland Jewish Newsreported. Polster organized a five-mile bike ride in 2010 thatcombined exercise, enjoyment of nature, and a “little Jewishlearning,” with Polster giving a lesson on the holiday of Shavuot,according to the article.

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For the opioid summit, Polster is asking staff for the Food andDrug Administration and the Drug Enforcement Administration fortheir views on how to better keep addictive painkillers out ofabusers’ hands. Half the meeting is slated for informationgathering and the rest on settlement proposals.

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“Judge Polster does not sit in an ivory tower, but in acourthouse in the middle of Cleveland, Ohio, an area devastated bythe opioid epidemic, with no end in sight to the deaths andheartache,” said Jayne Conroy, a lawyer representing cities andcounties in the litigation. “He is committed, hard-working andexperienced.”

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None of the companies would say which of their executives weregoing. McKesson spokeswoman Kristin Hunter Chasen said the companywanted to address a “complicated” public-health crisis. Johnson& Johnson’s Janssen unit looks forward to being “part of theongoing dialogue,” spokeswoman Jessica Castles Smith said. PurduePharma, Endo and Cardinal Health declined to comment.

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Ohio Attorney General Michael DeWine will brief Polster abouthis state’s skyrocketing rate of opioid overdoses. County morguesare full and officials are stacking corpses in cold-storagetrailers. DeWine, a Republican candidate for governor, has made theopioid crisis his signature issue.

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The parties have been talking. Purdue Pharma officials floated trialballoons in November for a deal with state attorneys general thatwould cover all opioid makers, people familiar with the talkssaid.

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Fruitless talks

But Jim Boffetti, a New Hampshire assistant attorney general,said the talks with Purdue officials were fruitless. “I haven’tgotten the least indication that they are willing to takeresponsibility,” he said. “We’re hoping the judge can change thatattitude.”

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“Maybe if he can get the right people in the room and get thosepeople thinking of what’s doable, then something good will come outof it,” said Elizabeth Burch, a University of Georgia law professorwho teaches about complex litigation.

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Anupam Jena, a Harvard Medical School health economist,estimates it would take $250 billion in annual funding to make ameaningful dent in the crisis, with funds for treatment, policedepartments and compensation for victims’ families. That amount maybe much more than the opioid makers and drug distributors arewilling to pay.

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Polster knows he’s in an unusual position: a judge overseeing amassive lawsuit while trying to craft a 50-state remedy to theepidemic.

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“It’s not typical to have the judiciary involved” in such a way,he said in the interview. “We are not policy makers.” But asPolster has said, he sees it as his duty to tackle the “100 percentman-made” crisis.

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“I’m not happy or unhappy” to be the point man on opioidlitigation, he said. “Whether I’m happy doesn’t matter. We don’tpick our cases.”

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