Liability in the Age of Addiction: Opioids, Algorithms, and Insurance Coverage

The landscape of addiction claims has fundamentally changed over the course of the past decade, presenting some of the most complex legal, regulatory, and insurance challenges for corporates, insurers, policymakers, and government entities.

Corporate defendants in a diverse range of sectors – from healthcare and life sciences to social media and digital content distribution – will be concerned about the potential for exposure to mass tort litigation in the US. Manufacturers and platform providers are not the only targets: experience suggests that distributors, retailers and consultants will be equally attractive targets for the plaintiff bar.

Corporate defendants – in sectors ranging from healthcare and life sciences to technology – will be watching developments in the US with interest and concern. Those defendants’ liability insurers will be equally interested, with billions of dollars of insurance coverage potentially on the line across decades of policies. The underlying liabilities will be greatest in the US; the determination as to who pays for those liabilities will be largely determined by insurance coverage arbitrations in London.

In this session we will discuss our evolving understanding of the science of addiction, reflect on lessons learned from the tobacco and prescription opioids litigation, draw comparisons with more recent claims alleging addiction to social media platforms, examine how the theories of public nuisance have been effectively weaponised to create maximum exposure for defendants, and evaluate the consequences for corporate defendants and insurers alike.