Purdue Says Kentucky Suit Over OxyContin Could Be Painful

No one rises as Circuit Judge Steven Combs enters his courtroom in Pikeville, Kentucky.

Combs wears a white shirt and yellow tie, no robe. Lawyers approach the bench as their cases are called, shake the judge’s hand and exchange small talk before getting to business. Today’s docket includes a woman convicted of public intoxication, an accused trafficker of painkillers, and a procedural matter involving Purdue Pharma LP, a multibillion-dollar pharmaceutical company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that’s effectively accused of laying waste to this Appalachian coal town.