From my link above:
So just how did they get dinged for over a half billion? They gots money and the state (and the feds too) are taking it. That's how.
During the trial, Johnson & Johnson said blame for the epidemic could not fairly be placed on one company with such modest sales, whose drugs were approved and strictly regulated by state and federal agencies.
Johnson & Johnson said that the state could not show how Oklahoma’s problems, which the company said arose from the diversion of hydrocodone and oxycodone, could be linked to Janssen, which did not make those drugs. It cited black-box warnings on Duragesic, its fentanyl patch, which cautioned about the potential for abuse and addiction. And it said the state had not identified any doctor who had been misled by the company about the dangers of opioids.
So just how did they get dinged for over a half billion? They gots money and the state (and the feds too) are taking it. That's how.