(CNN)In a landmark decision, an Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million for its role in the state's opioid crisis.
The verdict issued by Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman marks the end of the first state trial attempting to hold a pharmaceutical company accountable for one of the worst health epidemics in history. In his ruling, Balkman said the opioid crisis has "ravaged" the state of Oklahoma.
The defendants "engaged in false and misleading marketing of both their drugs and opioids generally, and the law makes clear that such conduct is more than enough to serve as the act or omission necessary to establish the first element of Oklahoma's public nuisance law," Balkman wrote in his ruling (PDF).
Following the ruling, Johnson & Johnson announced that it plans to appeal the "flawed" judgment.
"Janssen did not cause the opioid crisis in Oklahoma, and neither the facts nor the law support this outcome," Michael Ullmann, executive vice president and general counsel for Johnson & Johnson, said in a written statement on Monday.
"We recognize the opioid crisis is a tremendously complex public health issue and we have deep sympathy for everyone affected. We are working with partners to find ways to help those in need," he said. "This judgment is a misapplication of public nuisance law that has already been rejected by judges in other states."
