There is no argument so absurd that some lawyer somewhere will not sign his name to it and file it. Today's confirmation of that fact comes from Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA, maker of fentanyl. This powerful opiod drug is a major drug of abuse and responsible for a big chunk of the opiod abuse problem today. One would be hard pressed to think of any drug in the pharmacopeia with a worse reputation.
Even so, Hikma is evidently shocked, shocked to learn that Nevada plans to use its drug in executions. Ken Ritter reports for AP that Hikma has joined a suit by the manufacturer of one of the other drugs claiming that use in executions tarnishes a drug's reputation.
An emergency appeal is already pending in the Nevada Supreme Court."It's ironic that the maker of fentanyl, which is at the center of the nation's opioid crisis and is responsible for illegal overdoses every day is going to ... claim reputational injury from being associated with a lawful execution," Deputy Nevada state Solicitor General Jordan T. Smith protested.
This takes me back to my days as an alcoholic lawyer. Joseph Gallo was sued by his brothers Ernest and Julio for putting his own full name on his cheese. They claimed that Joe's use of the family name, even as part of his full name, for cheese would tarnish the sterling reputation that Gallo had developed for its fine wine. At that point a mass, collective throat-clearing was heard throughout California's wine country. Joe backed down, and the cheese is known today as "Joseph Farms."
"This takes me back to my days as an alcoholic lawyer. "
~ Now I have heard of a slip-and-fall lawyer who was so good
that he had his own abulance.
So if the trope applies, in your previous specialty, were you so good
that you had your own distillery?
'Fraid not. I was general counsel for a company that made wine coolers. I didn't own it, though. The people who did are quite wealthy, having sold it at just the right time.