The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms.

The world’s biggest social media companies face several landmark trials this year that seek to hold them responsible for harms to children who use their platforms.

A federal jury says CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies didn’t do enough to stop the flow of opioid pills into two Ohio counties.

Cities and counties in the U.S. that want to hold pharmacies accountable for the opioid crisis are closely watching a federal trial that’s coming to a close.

Jeff Mateer, who led the attorney general’s office for years as Paxton’s top deputy, said that when he resigned in October, the agency had no intention of hiring outside lawyers. The attorney general’s office will ask the Legislature for $43 million to pay the outside lawyers, according to a contract obtained by The Texas Tribune. It’s not typical for the Texas attorney general’s office — one of the nation’s largest, with some 4,000 employees including hundreds of attorneys — to hire outside counsel, though it has sometimes done so for high-profile cases. The law firms were brought on only after the agency staff leading the probe fled the attorney general’s office in the wake of a fresh Paxton scandal. After an initial interview, Lanier and his team referred all inquiries to the attorney general’s office.

Mateer said former Deputy Attorney General Darren McCarty was leading the investigation into Google and they intended to assemble a trial team from among the office’s thousands of employees. “The legal services cannot be adequately performed by the attorneys and supporting personnel,” of the attorney general’s office, Paxton wrote. In response to questions for this story, Kayleigh Date, spokeswoman for Paxton's office, said “the contract speaks for itself." It’s unclear where the request for $43 million stands, and Paxton’s office did not answer questions about it. For instance, while Lanier was representing two Ohio counties in their landmark opioid lawsuit, Texas used state employees for its similar case against pharmaceutical company John­son & Johnson.

FILE - In this June 28, 2020 file photo, Texas' Attorney General Ken Paxton waits on the flight line for the arrival of Vice President Mike Pence at Love Field in Dallas. “The legal services cannot be adequately performed by the attorneys and supporting personnel,” of the attorney general’s office, Paxton wrote. In response to questions for this story, Kayleigh Date, spokeswoman for Paxton's office, said “the contract speaks for itself." It’s unclear where the request for $43 million stands, and Paxton’s office did not answer questions about it. For instance, while Lanier was representing two Ohio counties in their landmark opioid lawsuit, Texas used state employees for its similar case against pharmaceutical company John­son & Johnson.