Court Gives Final Approval to $230 Million Settlement in McKinsey Case

Settlement Resolves Litigation Over McKinsey’s Alleged Role in Facilitating the U.S. Opioid Crisis

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP helped secure justice for government subdivisions and school districts nationwide when Judge Charles R. Breyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California approved a $230 million recovery in a case against McKinsey & Co., Inc., one of the world’s leading business consultants, for its alleged role in facilitating the U.S. opioid crisis. Judge Breyer gave final approval to the settlement in February 2024.

“The opioid crisis has devastated communities across the country. This recovery holds McKinsey accountable for its role in fueling the epidemic and provides additional dollars to the abatement effort nationwide,” said partner Aelish Marie Baig, who serves on the Plaintiffs’ Steering Committee for the McKinsey litigation.

The Firm has played a leading role in prosecuting and coordinating opioid crisis litigation in cases all over the United States. “So far, we’ve helped recover over $50 billion for those communities – with the majority of that money reserved for abatement efforts, including overdose prevention and OUD treatment,” Baig added.

Earlier this year, Baig and co-counsel secured $230 million from Walgreens for the City and County of San Francisco to resolve its claims against the pharmacy chain for facilitating the city’s opioid crisis. Baig served as co-lead trial counsel in the case against Walgreens. 

More About the McKinsey Case 

McKinsey, one of the world’s leading business consultants, agreed to pay $230 million to government subdivisions and school districts to resolve claims about its role in facilitating the U.S. opioid crisis.  

The agreement resolves lawsuits by counties, school districts, and local governments in nationwide litigation seeking to hold McKinsey accountable for playing a “central role in the unfolding, propagation, and exploitation of the opioid crisis by advising multiple opioid manufacturers and other industry participants how to sell as many opioids as conceivably possible,” according to the complaint. 

McKinsey allegedly provided consulting services to many pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, L.P. (the manufacturer of OxyContin), Endo Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson. The case alleged that McKinsey continued its consulting work providing the pharmaceutical industry with sales and marketing strategies to sell opioids for over a decade, despite knowing the products were highly addictive and unsafe. 

Robbins Geller attorneys Paul J. Geller, Aelish Marie Baig, Dory P. Antullis, Taeva C. Shefler, and Hadiya K. Deshmukh, and our co-counsel represent the class of political subdivisions in the McKinsey case. 

About Robbins Geller 

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP is one of the world’s leading complex litigation firms, representing plaintiffs in securities fraud, shareholder derivative, antitrust, corporate takeover, and consumer fraud and privacy cases. With 200 lawyers in 10 offices, Robbins Geller is one of the world’s largest plaintiffs’ firms, and the Firm’s attorneys have obtained many of the largest securities, antitrust, and consumer class action recoveries in history.  

The Firm is ranked #1 on the most recent ISS Securities Class Action Services Top 50 Report for recovering more than $1.75 billion for investors in 2022 – the third year in a row Robbins Geller tops the list. And in those three years alone, Robbins Geller recovered nearly $5.3 billion for investors, more than double the amount recovered by any other plaintiffs’ firm. The Firm secured the largest-ever securities fraud class action settlement – $7.2 billion – in In re Enron Corp. Securities Litigation. 

 For more information, please email us at media@rgrdlaw.com or call us at (619) 338-3821. 

In re McKinsey & Co., Inc. National Prescription Opiate Consultant Litig., No. 3:21-md-02996-CRB (N.D. Cal.).