EXPLAINER: $26B opioid settlement big step, but not the end

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A $26 billion settlement between the three biggest U.S. drug distribution companies and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and thousands of states and municipalities that sued over the toll of the opioid crisis is certainly significant — but it is far from tying a neat bow on the tangle of still unresolved lawsuits surrounding the epidemic.

Besides the monthslong process of state and local governments deciding whether to sign onto the settlement, there are three current cases in the U.S., others set to begin soon and the bankruptcy of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to resolve.

Here's a look at other legal proceedings across the nation:

OPIOID TRIALS ARE HAPPENING NOW. DOES THIS END THEM?

The three opioid trials happening already are expected to continue, but one of them will be a lot different.

That's New York. Unlike other states, it reached a deal on its portion of the settlements.

Johnson & Johnson agreed to pay $230 million last month just before the trial began. And Tuesday, the drug distribution companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson agreed to pay a total of more than $1.1 billion.

Those companies were all dropped immediately from the case. But the trial is continuing against Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Endo International and AbbVie, Inc.

Two other trials are also expected to continue.

In West Virginia, a trial of claims brought by the city of Huntington and surrounding Cabell County against the nation’s three largest opioid distributors is scheduled to wrap up next week.

Because the new settlement will not be finalized before closing arguments, proceedings are expected to move forward as planned.

Meanwhile, several California counties — including populous Los Angeles, Orange and Santa Clara — and the city of Oakland...