COMMENTARY: An opioid appeal test limits of judicial power in mass torts ↧ ↧ COMMENTARY: An opioid appeal test limits of judicial power in mass ... After nearly a decade of litigation and $50 billion in settlements, the nationwide opioid litigation brought by local and state governments finally seemed to be winding down. Then the Ohio federal judge overseeing it allowed hundreds of plaintiffs this summer to add two deep-pocketed defendants to their cases.