On October 2, 2026, Alston & Bird secured a rare mandamus victory for client OptumRx Inc., obtaining vacatur of an order that would have allowed 800 plaintiffs, including large cities, to bring new claims against two of the nation’s largest pharmacy benefit managers in the In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation multidistrict litigation (MDL). The now-vacated order had increased the number of cases against the pharmacy benefit managers tenfold.
The win was achieved on a rarely granted mandamus petition following nearly three years of litigation on the issue in the district court, including thousands of pages of briefing. A unanimous Sixth Circuit panel held that the MDL’s presiding judge clearly abused his discretion by allowing the plaintiffs to add claims years after the deadline to sue without individually analyzing each plaintiff’s diligence, agreeing with the companies that there is no MDL exception to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The companies had described the petition as a textbook case for mandamus, pointing out that the plaintiffs admitted they were seeking the late amendments to pressure the pharmacy benefit managers into global settlements.
The Alston & Bird team representing OptumRx and its affiliates includes partners Brian Boone and Andrew Hatchett and senior associate Matthew Hooker (Litigation & Trial Practice).