Oklahoma oilman Harold Hamm joined two other business leaders on Friday in siding with the state in its fight against drug maker Johnson and Johnson’s appeal of being blamed for the state’s opioid crisis.
Hamm, founder and owner of Continental Resources joined Oklahoma business leaders Bob Howard and Gene Rainbolt in a friend-of-the court brief filed Friday in the Oklahoma Supreme Court. Their filing claimed Johnson and Johnson’s appeal was “hollow” and a “scare tactic that is nonsense.”
The drug manufacturer is appealing the $465 million verdict, claiming the Cleveland County District Judge who heard the 2019 trial misapplied Oklahoma’s public nuisance law in reaching the verdict.
Joining Hamm, Howard and Rainbolt were the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and state regents.
They argued that, “For decades, billions of dollars needed to support Oklahoma’s economy have been used instead to try and clean up the destruction J&J has caused.”