Scarcely five weeks before a landmark federal civil trial in the opioid epidemic, the giant retail pharmacy chains and drug distributors that are defendants in the bellwether Ohio case are seeking to disqualify the judge from overseeing it and nearly 2,300 other opioid-related lawsuits before him.

In a brief filed in federal court at 1:24 a.m. on Saturday, the defendants’ lawyers claimed that over the past 21 months, Judge Dan A. Polster has shown his bias against the defendants by making extensive comments about his intention to settle the sprawling case and bring relief as quickly as possible to local governments and individuals hit hard by crisis.

He made such remarks at the first public hearing in the case, in January 2018, when he announced his goal of settling the case rather than having lengthy, costly trials, whose results would almost certainly be appealed.

He continued to press his goal of settlement in public appearances and comments to the media. Articles in The New York Times with quotes from the judge are among those cited in the lawyers’ brief.