Preview Newsletter
Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 1/11/2018
-
Mecklenburg County engages law firm for potential opioid lawsuit
Jan 11, 2018 | Fox 46 (NC)
By David Sentendrey
Mecklenburg County is taking action to fight the ongoing opioid crisis. -
MECKLENBURG CO. PLANS TO SUE DRUG MANUFACTURES OVER OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Jan 10, 2018 | Spectrum News (NC)
By Kristin Garriss
Mecklenburg County commissioners are tackling the opioid epidemic in a new way. -
Mecklenburg Co. leaders take major step to fight opioid epidemic
Jan 10, 2018 | WSOCTV (NC)
By Tina Terry
Mecklenburg County manager Dena Diorio announced that leaders will be working with attorneys to help build a case against drug companies blamed for the opioid crisis that has gripped the country. -
Gaston commissioners consider suing opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Gaston Gazette (NC)
By Dashiell Coleman
Gaston County is considering taking legal action against opioid manufacturers. -
WILKES COUNTY MAY SUE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FOR OPIOD ADDICTION COSTS
Jan 10, 2018 | GoBlueRidge.net (NC)
By Bill Fisher
The Wilkes County commissioners are considering filing a federal lawsuit against certain prescription drug manufacturers and distributors seeking financial compensation for the county’s costs from opioid addiction. -
Tribe files lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers
Jan 11, 2018 | Cherokee One Feather (NC)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
Last summer, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance. Now, the Tribe has filed a civil lawsuit against a list of manufacturers and wholesale distributors of prescription opioids. -
SOME LOCAL COUNTIES SUE DRUG COMPANIES OVER OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Jan 10, 2018 | WTVA (MS)
By Craig Ford
Three North Mississippi counties are suing drug companies over the opioid epidemic. -
Rutherford County DA joins four other prosecutors in lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Tennesean (TN)
By Adam Tamburn
Five top prosecutors from across Tennessee, including one covering Rutherford County, are suing prescription drug manufacturers, doctors and providers in the latest legal action taken to address the opioid epidemic in the state. -
Washington County commissioners discuss plans to sue big pharma
Jan 10, 2018 | WJHG (FL)
By Shelly Campbell
Washington County leaders are discussing plans to tackle the county's opioid problem and join the fight against drug companies. -
Fourth Judicial District joins lawsuit blaming opioid producers for state's epidemic
Jan 10, 2018 | WLTV TV (TN)
By Staff
Another East Tennessee district attorney general has joined a lawsuit against producers of prescription opioids, saying they're responsible for the state's opioid epidemic. -
Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District Joins Suit Against Opioid Producers
Jan 10, 2018 | Sevier News Messenger (TN)
By Staff
The coalition of East Tennessee district attorneys general that brought an October 2017 lawsuit against several prescription opioid producers has filed an amended complaint in Campbell County Circuit Court. -
Baldwin County Commission enters legal battle in opioid crisis
Jan 10, 2018 | Yellow Hammer News (AL)
By Staff
The Baldwin County Commission is entering the legal battle when it comes to the opioid crisis. -
Jasper County To Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | KZRG (MO)
By Staff
The Jasper County Commission is going after companies that make opioids. The Commission Tuesday (1/9) passed a resolution to sue eight pharmaceutical companies though a St. Louis-based law firm. Jasper County Presiding Commissioner John Bartosh tells News Talk KZRG the Commission became interested when it learned people from out of state were taking advantage of Missouri’s lack of prescription drug monitoring. -
Jasper County Commissioners Decide to Join Multi-County Lawsuit
Jan 10, 2018 | KOAM (MO)
By Veronica Utecht
Andy Martin is a pharmacist at Express RX in Carthage. He keeps an eye out for people who might be abusing opioids, by getting to know his patients. -
Montmorency board takes step toward opioid litigation
Jan 11, 2018 | The Alpena News (MI)
By Julie Goldberg
The Montmorency County Board of Commissioners took another step in its decision to join the opioid litigation it has been discussing for a couple weeks. -
Kewaunee County joins lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Green Bay Press Gazette (WI)
By Christopher Clough
Add Kewaunee County to the list of those across the state that are seeking to file suit against a number of pharmaceutical companies for damages related to marketing of prescription opioid painkillers. -
Hamilton County hires outside lawyer to sue opioid makers, distributors
Jan 10, 2018 | Cinncinati (OH)
By Monroe Trombly
Hamilton County Commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday to hire a special counsel to pursue civil litigation against wholesale opioid distributors and manufacturers who have played a role in causing and creating the opioid and heroin epidemic currently facing the county. -
Winona Co. considers suing opioid makers
Jan 10, 2018 | Winona Post (MN)
By Chris Rogers
Winona County plans to consider jumping on the opioid litigation train. Late last month, the Winona County Board agreed to talk with private law firms about joining lawsuits brought by various Minnesota counties against certain manufacturers of prescription opioid painkillers. -
County taking prescription opioid manufacturers to court
Jan 10, 2018 | ABC Newspapers (MN)
By Peter Bodley
Anoka County plans to take prescription opioid manufacturers to federal court following a spike in opioid-related deaths. -
No Tribal Jurisdiction In Cherokee Opioid Suit, Judge Says
Jan 10, 2018 | Law360
By Michael Phillis
An Oklahoma federal judge on Tuesday halted a suit filed by the Cherokee Nation in tribal court that sought to hold a group of pharmacies and drug distributors responsible for rampant opioid addiction among tribe members, deciding the tribal court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the claims. -
Judge deals setback to Cherokee Nation lawsuit over opioids
Jan 10, 2018 | Reuters
By Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
A federal judge in Oklahoma has dealt a blow to a Cherokee Nation lawsuit seeking to stop the flow of addictive opioid painkillers in its territory by issuing a preliminary injunction to prevent the case from being heard in tribal court. -
Blocked in tribal courts, Cherokee Nation to pursue opioid lawsuit in state court, officials say
Jan 11, 2018 | Tulsa World (OK)
By Michael Overall
Blocked from pursuing the case in tribal court, the Cherokee Nation plans to sue several major corporations in state court for allegedly creating “an epidemic of prescription opioid drug abuse” among Native Americans, officials said Wednesday. -
City Selects Law Firm to Sue Opiate Manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | This is Reno (NV)
By Bob Conrad
The Reno City Council today selected the law firm of Eglet Price of Las Vegas to sue manufacturers of opiates. -
COUNTY JOINS LAWSUIT AGAINST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY
Jan 10, 2018 | Groesbeck Journal (TX)
By Roxanne Thompson
Limestone County commissioners voted to join 28 other Texas counties in a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, a major company that produces and sells opioid-based painkillers. -
Methuen councilors weren't aware of opioid suit
Jan 11, 2018 | Eagle Tribune (MA)
By Lisa Kashinsky
The city joined a national movement against big pharmaceutical companies this week by filing a lawsuit taking on several major firms that manufacture and distribute opioids. -
It's Time To Take On Big Opioid Like We Did With Big Tobacco (EDITORIAL)
Jan 10, 2018 | BuzzFeed News
By James E. Tierney
The unchecked flood of opioids into our country has caused unspeakable damage, and the companies that manufacture them will inevitably be held accountable. When that moment comes, it is vital that we avoid the mistakes made in our attempts to hold Big Tobacco accountable. -
Trump declared an opioids emergency. Then nothing changed. (EDITORIAL)
Jan 11, 2018 | Politico
By Brianna Ehley
President Donald Trump in October promised to "liberate" Americans from the "scourge of addiction," officially declaring a 90-day public health emergency that would urgently mobilize the federal government to tackle the opioid epidemic. AUDIO LINK: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/opioids-epidemic-trump-addiction-emergency-order-335848 -
Settlement Aspirations Enter The Opioid MDL
Jan 10, 2018 | Law360
By Adam Fleischer and Kevin Harris
It has been just short of a year since the worst drug crisis in American history spread from the streets and the morgues of American cities, and infected courtroom dockets, where over 150 state and local governments, hospitals and labor unions have sued pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars spent to date addressing the opioid epidemic. -
Federal judge calls for quick resolution to 200+ opioids lawsuits
Jan 10, 2018 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
A federal judge is overseeing the consolidation of more than 200 opioid lawsuits filed by counties, states and hospitals, among other entities, against drugmakers and distributors. The judge on Tuesday called for attorneys representing both sides to achieve a swift resolution that beneficially targets the opioid crisis, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal. -
Federal Judge Urges Opioid Lawsuit Defendants to Quickly Settle Claims
Jan 10, 2018 | USA Herald
By Robin Bull
We have an update for you about the monumental federal lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and promoted the use of opioids. It’s no secret that America is in the grips of an opioid addiction crisis. Once people become addicted to opioids, they face a higher risk of turning to heroin. A study by the NIH found that almost 90% of all heroin users started out with legitimate prescriptions for opioids. -
Judge: CN courts can’t hear opioids case
Jan 11, 2018 | Cherokee Phoenix (OK)
By Will Chavez
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern on Jan. 9 ruled that the Cherokee Nation’s lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and distributors cannot be heard in the tribe’s District Court. -
State wins round in lawsuit vs. opioid drug makers
Jan 10, 2018 | New Hampshire Union Leader (NH)
By Kevin Landrigan
A federal judge agreed Tuesday to move back to a state court New Hampshire’s lawsuit charging prescription pain pill maker Purdue Pharma with deceptively marketing OxyContin and other medications that led patients to get hooked on heroin and synthetic opioids. -
Insurance Coverage for Opioid Lawsuits & Investigations
Jan 10, 2018 | The National Law Review
By Covington and Burlington Health Care Practice
Dozens of pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and retailers have been named as defendants in opioid-related lawsuits, investigations, and congressional inquiries across the country. These actions and investigations include allegations that defendants misleadingly marketed opioids, failed to comply with regulatory requirements to report suspicious orders of opioids, and improperly filled fraudulent prescriptions for opioids. Some of these companies and their directors and officers are also targets of securities class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits related to the companies’ marketing, sale, distribution, and dispensing of opioid painkillers. Defendants are disputing these allegations and mounting a vigorous defense. -
Spectrum News All Morning
Jan 11, 2018 | NWS14 (Spectrum News)
By Charlotte, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872664?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
NBC Charlotte at 6:00
Jan 11, 2018 | WCNC (NBC)
By Charlotte, NC
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873083?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
KOCO 5 News at 6am
Jan 11, 2018 | KOCO (ABC)
By Oklahoma City, OK
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873048?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
Good Day OK at 6A
Jan 11, 2018 | KOKH (FOX)
By Oklahoma City, OK
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873072?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
NewsChannel 7 Today
Jan 11, 2018 | WJHG (NBC)
By Panama City, FL
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873078?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
Local 33 News Today
Jan 11, 2018 | WVLA (NBC)
By Baton Rouge, LA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873088?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
11 News Today
Jan 11, 2018 | WBAL (NBC)
By Baltimore, MD
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873139?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
Fox 45 Morning News
Jan 11, 2018 | WBFF (Fox)
By Baltimore, MD
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873043?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
Fox66 Mornings
Jan 11, 2018 | WSMH (FOX)
By Flint, MI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873025?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
KOAM Morning News on Fox 14
Jan 11, 2018 | KFJX (FOX)
By Joplin, MO
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872675?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
WTVA 9 News on WLOV
Jan 11, 2018 | WLOV (FOX)
By Columbus, MS
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872671?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff -
Mornings on FOX 11
Jan 11, 2018 | KRXI (Fox)
By Reno, NV
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872653?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Southeast (NC, MS, FL, TN, AL)
Midwest (MO, MI, WI, OH, MN)
Southwest (OK, NV, TX)
Northeast (MA)
Commentary and FYIs
Broadcast Media Coverage
-
Mecklenburg County engages law firm for potential opioid lawsuit
Jan 11, 2018 | Fox 46 (NC)
By David Sentendrey
Mecklenburg County is taking action to fight the ongoing opioid crisis.
The county has teamed up with three law firms -- Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Crueger Dickinson LLC and von Briesen & Roper, s.c. -- to "represent its interests in the pending opioid investigation," according to a press release.
Several other North Carolina counties have filed lawsuits, while others are considering filing an action, according to the press release.
Tens of thousands of people die from opioid overdoses each year.
"The county of Mecklenburg expends a lot of dollars every week in treating overdoses and investigation crimes," HeroinInterventions.com founder Robert Martin said.
Meck Co. said it will only pay legal fees it there is money recovered. The county adding, co-lead attorney Paul Hanley is "highly experienced in opioid litigation and in representing county government entities in multi-district litigation."
Hanley led litigation that eventually resulted in a $634 million criminal misbranding judgment against Purdue Pharma, according to the press release.
-
MECKLENBURG CO. PLANS TO SUE DRUG MANUFACTURES OVER OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Jan 10, 2018 | Spectrum News (NC)
By Kristin Garriss
Mecklenburg County commissioners are tackling the opioid epidemic in a new way.
“It’s going to send a message that we're not going to sit idlely by while Big Pharma is able to sweep a problem, or try to sweep a problem under the rug,” said Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour.
Wednesday, commissioners announced they’re taking on drug manufactures by suing them for the harm they've caused in the community.
“A lot of families who've been ravished, a lot families that have lost loved ones because of this addiction,” said Ridenhour.
The county hasn't filed an official lawsuit yet, but commissioners hired Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Crueger Dickinson LLC and Von Briesen & Roper, S.C. law firms to represent them in this fight.
Commissioners said this initiative won't cost taxpayers a thing. If the county wins a case, Ridenhour said the money received in damages would cover legal fees and the rest would be used for prevention, education and rehabilitation.
“By receiving these damages we can try to in some way make the community better and recovery form this opioid epidemic,” said Ridenhour.
Former district attorney and now private attorney, John Snyder, said it's a very creative approach. He's optimistic it'll work but he said it won't be easy.
"I'm not sure that the county will be as successful as they'd like to be in showing the link between the makers of the medicine and those that are suffering from the addiction,” said Snyder.
And even if they win a case, Sndyer said commissioners can't forget to tackle the root of this growing epidemic.
“Why do people feel the need to take, abuse prescription drugs?,” said Snyder.
-
Mecklenburg Co. leaders take major step to fight opioid epidemic
Jan 10, 2018 | WSOCTV (NC)
By Tina Terry
Mecklenburg County manager Dena Diorio announced that leaders will be working with attorneys to help build a case against drug companies blamed for the opioid crisis that has gripped the country.
Diorio announced leaders have engaged with three different national law firms: Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC, Crueger Dickson LLC and von Briesen & Roper.
The lawsuit hasn’t been filed yet, but Crueger Dickson currently represents 150 counties nationwide in similar litigation.
Another attorney on the team also led litigation that won a $634 million criminal misbranding judgement against the company, Perdu Pharma.
County Commissioner Matthew Ridenhour said he believes big drug companies are to blame for the opioid epidemic that is killing four people a day in North Carolina and hurting Charlotte.
“By recovering some monetary damages, we can reinvest those dollars in rehab education, prevention and try to help the community already damaged by this epidemic,” Ridenhour said.
County leaders have made it clear that they will not pay any legal fees unless they win money in the lawsuit.
Ridenhour said he’s confident the county can win.
There is no timeline on when the county will file.
-
Gaston commissioners consider suing opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Gaston Gazette (NC)
By Dashiell Coleman
Gaston County is considering taking legal action against opioid manufacturers.
Chad Brown, chairman of the county’s Board of Commissioners, told The Gaston Gazette that commissioners have been briefed on the possibility of joining legal action supported by other local governments in the state. Exact details of the legal action were not immediately available, but Brown said it involved both manufacturers and distributors.
“We’re still in the infancy stages of what’s going on,” Brown said. “.... No vote has been taken yet. We’ve been informed about it and are looking into it.”
Commissioner Tracy Philbeck said the idea is to hold opioid manufacturers responsible for any misleading advertising or over-distribution of addictive pain medication.
“At the end of the day, if you stop the flow of money, you’ll stop the flow of opioids,” Philbeck said.
County Manager Earl Mathers said it could be “a number of years” before any such litigation is resolved. County Attorney Chuck Moore did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but Philbeck said he expected more details would be available soon.
In December, the state of North Carolina sued the manufacturer of a fentanyl-based cancer medicine, accusing the company of paying kickbacks to doctors for prescribing the drug for other uses. Smaller local governments have also taken legal action against opioid manufacturers. Last week, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians filed suit in a federal court in Asheville against more than 20 pharmaceutical companies, according to WLOS News. Last year, Buncombe, New Hanover and Rockingham counties also filed similar lawsuits, according to reports in The Associated Press and local news outlets.
News of Gaston’s potential action came the same day as the county’s Department of Health and Human Services held a summit to gather ideas on how to tackle abuse of opioids and other drugs locally.
The Health Department reported that Gaston County had the fourth-highest number of heroin overdoses and the highest number of prescription overdoses in North Carolina from 1999-2014. In 2016, more than 15 million opioid pills were issued in the county, according to the department. The number was even higher, about 20 million, in 2015.
There were 74 Gaston residents treated for opioid overdoses in emergency rooms in 2016 and 68 in 2015. That’s a decline: The state’s numbers for Gaston show 176 such cases in 2014, 180 in 2013 and 156 in 2012.
The state estimates that medical and work loss from medication and drug fatalities in Gaston County amounts to more than $87 million.
During a presentation at the summit, county medical director Dr. Velma Taorimina said Gaston plans to expand its medicine take-back locations and look into grants in its effort to prevent and treat opioid abuse. Additionally, county staff planned to gather and review any suggestions arising from the meeting.
“It is multidimensional, and it’s going to require multidimensional solutions,” Mathers said.
-
WILKES COUNTY MAY SUE PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES FOR OPIOD ADDICTION COSTS
Jan 10, 2018 | GoBlueRidge.net (NC)
By Bill Fisher
The Wilkes County commissioners are considering filing a federal lawsuit against certain prescription drug manufacturers and distributors seeking financial compensation for the county’s costs from opioid addiction.
The Wilkes Journal Patriot reports the commissioners discussed the potential suit with representatives from two law firms during closed session last week. Officials in Wilkes and other area counties have often cited the increased costs of foster care, law enforcement, jail housing, health care and other public services as a result of opioid addiction.
According to the report, the opioid prescribing rate in Wilkes County was 91.4 prescriptions per 100 people (adults and children) in 2016. Columbus County had the highest rate at 177.8, followed by Surry County with 164 and Burke County with 151.5.
Surry County filed a law suit December 29th alleging pharmaceutical companies used various methods to deceptively market painkillers and other opioid medication, and provided misleading or false information about how addictive those drugs could become. It said the companies marketed those drugs specifically to vulnerable populations such as the elderly and veterans. The suit claims the result was huge profits for the companies and devastating impacts for counties such as Surry, which had 46 opiate-related deaths from 1999 to 2007, and 100 of these deaths from 2008 to 2016.
According to the report the Wilkes Commissioners haven’t reached a consensus nor taken any action but is still considering the matter.
-
Tribe files lawsuit against opioid distributors, manufacturers
Jan 11, 2018 | Cherokee One Feather (NC)
By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
Last summer, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians declared the opioid crisis a public nuisance. Now, the Tribe has filed a civil lawsuit against a list of manufacturers and wholesale distributors of prescription opioids.
The 161-page lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Asheville on Thursday, Jan. 4, fulfills a resolution, submitted by Principal Chief Richard G. Sneed, that was passed by Tribal Council on Oct. 16, 2017 that directs a Special Counsel to take action “against all manufacturers and wholesale distributors legally responsible for causing or contributing to the opioid epidemic plaguing our Tribe”.
Listed as defendants in the lawsuit are: Amerisourcebergen Drug Corporation; Cardinal Health, Inc.; McKesson Corporation; Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephaon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. n/k/a Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Noramco Inc.; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Allergan PLC f/k/a Actavis PLS: Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc. n/k/a Actavis, Inc.; Watson Laboratories, Inc.; Actavis LLC; Actavis Pharma, Inc. f/k/a Watson Pharma, Inc.; Mallinckrodt PLC and Mallinckrodt LLC.
The suit lists several complaints including: Complaint for Public Nuisance, Violations of Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, Negligence and Negligent Misrepresentations, Negligence Per Se, Civil Conspiracy, and Fraud and Fraudulent Misrepresentations.
The lawsuit states, “Plaintiff brings this civil action to eliminate the hazard to public health and safety caused by the opioid epidemic, to abate the nuisance caused thereby, and to recoup monies spent because of Defendants’ false, deceptive, and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioids. Such economic damages were foreseeable to Defendants and were sustained because of Defendants’ intentional and/or unlawful actions and omissions.”
It goes on to allege, “The manufacturers aggressively pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction. These pharmaceutical companies aggressively advertised to and persuaded doctors to prescribe highly addictive, dangerous opioids and turned patients into drug addicts for their own corporate profit.”
The suit also alleges that both the distributors and manufacturers “intentionally and/or unlawfully breached their legal duties under federal and EBCI law to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse, and report suspicious orders of prescription opiates.”
An amount is not listed in the suit, but the Tribe is seeking various damages including, “(A) costs for providing medical care, additional therapeutic and prescription drug purchases, and other treatments for patients suffering from opioid-related addiction or disease, including overdoses and deaths; (B) costs for providing treatment, counseling, and rehabilitation services; (C) costs for providing treatment of infants born with opioid-related medical conditions; (D) costs for providing care for children whose parents suffer from opioid-related disability or incapacitation; and (E) costs associated with law enforcement and public safety relating to the opioid epidemic.”
When the resolution was passed by Tribal Council in October, Chief Sneed commented, “Should we prevail in court, any settlement funds would be designated for rehabilitation, education, and law enforcement.”
He went on to state, “This is a manufactured crisis.”
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians is one of the first few federally-recognized tribes in the country to file litigation on this crisis.
The Cherokee Nation filed a lawsuit against six companies (McKesson Corporation; Cardinal Health, Inc.; Amerisource Bergen; CVS Health; Walgreens Boot Alliance, Inc.; and Wal-Mart) in April 2017 “charting the companies with failing to prevent the flow of illegally prescribed opioids to men, women, and children in the Cherokee Nation.”
Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Bill John Baker said at the time, “Tribal nations have survived disease, removal from our homelands, termination and other adversities, and still we prospered. However, I fear the opioid epidemic is emerging as the next great challenge of our modern era. As we fight this epidemic in our hospitals, our schools, and our Cherokee homes, we will also use our legal system to make sure the companies, who put profits over people while our society is crippled by this epidemic, are held responsible for their actions.”
Three tribes in South Dakota including the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, and the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate filed a lawsuit, through trial firm Robins Kaplan LLP, on Monday, Jan. 8 against 24 distributors and manufacturers of opioids.
“The effects of opioids on South Dakota tribes has been horrific,” said Brendan Johnson, former U.S. Attorney for South Dakota who is now a part of the Robins Kaplan LLP team. “This epidemic has overwhelmed our public health and law enforcement services, drained resources for addiction therapy, and sent the cost of caring for children of opioid-addicted parents skyrocketing. This is a crisis that affects virtually every tribal member in the state.”
The One Feather contacted each defendant in the EBCI lawsuit seeking comment. Following are statements from those we heard back from by press time.
John Puskar, Purdue Pharma L.P. public affairs director, commented, “We are deeply troubled by the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis and are dedicated to being part of the solution. As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. Although our products account for approximately 2 percent of the total opioid prescriptions, as a company, we’ve distributed the CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain, developed three of the first four FDA-approved opioid medications with abuse-deterrent properties and partner with law enforcement to ensure access to naloxone. We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
Puskar went on to note, “Unlike the past tobacco litigation, our medicines are approved by FDA, prescribed by doctors, and dispensed by pharmacists, as treatments for patients suffering from severe pain.”
John Parker, spokesperson for the Healthcare Distribution Alliance, a national trade group that represents wholesale distributors including AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, said in a statement to the One Feather, “As distributors, we understand the tragic impact the opioid epidemic has on communities across the country. We are deeply engaged in the issue and are taking our own steps to be part of the solution – but we aren’t willing to be scapegoats. Distributors are logistics companies that arrange for the safe and secure storage, transport, and delivery of medicines from manufacturers to pharmacies, hospital, long-term care facilities, and others based on prescriptions from licensed physicians. We don’t make medicines, market medicines, prescribe medicines, or dispense them to consumers.”
He continued, “Given our role, the idea that distributors are solely responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works and how it is regulated. We are ready to have a serious conversation about solving a complex problem and are eager to work with political leaders and all stakeholders in finding forward-looking solutions.”
Sarah Freeman, spokesperson for Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., commented, “Responsibly used opioid-based pain medicines give doctors and patients important choices to help manage the debilitating effects of chronic pain. At the same time, we recognize opioid abuse and addiction is a serious public health issue that must be addressed.”
On the suit itself, she noted, “We believe the allegations in the lawsuits against our company are both legally and factually unfounded. Janssen has acted in the best interests of patients and physicians with regard to its opioid pain medicines, which are FDA-approved and carry FDA-mandated warnings about possible risks on every product label. According to independent surveillance data, Janssen opioid pain medicines consistently have some of the lowest rates of abuse among these medications, and since 2008 the volume of Janssen opioid products always has amounted to less than 1 percent of the total prescriptions written per year for opioid medications, including generics. Addressing opioid abuse will require collaboration among many stakeholders and we will continue to work with federal, state and local officials to support solutions.”
Heather Zoumas Lubeski, Endo senior director of corporate affairs, said, “Endo is dedicated to providing safe, quality products to patients in need and we share the public concern regarding opioid abuse and misuse. We are committed to working collaboratively to develop and implement a comprehensive solution to the opioid crisis, which is a complex problem with several causes that are difficult to disentangle. Any serious solution must therefore be multifaceted and consider, among other things, the legitimate access needs of the millions of patients suffering from acute or chronic pain who rely on opioids to improve their quality of life.”
She added, “Toward that goal, Endo has taken meaningful action during the past year by voluntarily ceasing opioid promotion and eliminating its entire product salesforce. Endo also voluntarily withdrew Opana® ER from the market following FDA’s request despite having a statutory right to challenge that request, implemented additional anti-diversion measures and terminated its new opioid product development programs.”
She concluded with, “It is Endo’s policy not to comment on current litigation. That said, we deny the allegations contained in this lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend the Company.”
-
SOME LOCAL COUNTIES SUE DRUG COMPANIES OVER OPIOID EPIDEMIC
Jan 10, 2018 | WTVA (MS)
By Craig Ford
Three North Mississippi counties are suing drug companies over the opioid epidemic.
Benton, Tippah and Union counties filed the lawsuits in U. S. District Court in Oxford.
The lawsuits accuses drug companies of pushing the drugs' use and misleading doctors to believe addiction to them was a rare instance.
The lawsuit is asking for the companies to stop production of the drugs and pay governments for monies spent related to the drugs.
The counties are suing manufacturers and wholesale companies who distributed opioids.
The legal papers were filed Monday in U. S. District Court in Oxford and became public on Wednesday.
-
Rutherford County DA joins four other prosecutors in lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Tennesean (TN)
By Adam Tamburn
Five top prosecutors from across Tennessee, including one covering Rutherford County, are suing prescription drug manufacturers, doctors and providers in the latest legal action taken to address the opioid epidemic in the state.
The district attorneys general filed their 104-page lawsuit Wednesday in Cumberland County Circuit Court. They join two other groups of Tennessee prosecutors who filed similar suits last year in state court.
All together, the coalition includes 14 district attorneys representing 47 Tennessee counties.
Their provocative argument rests on proving the defendants, including a group of high-powered pharmaceutical companies and health care providers, knowingly participated in the illegal drug market.
State law allows recovering addicts and others to sue illegal drug dealers for damages. Applying that law to prescription drug manufacturers is unprecedented, but a lead attorney representing the prosecutors said it is a winning argument because the manufacturers willingly profit from illegal use of painkillers like OxyContin and Percocet.
"Demand is being driven by illegal sources and the manufacturers are happy to fill those orders,” J. Gerard Stranch, managing partner of Branstetter, Stranch & Jennings, the Nashville-based law firm that filed the three lawsuits on behalf of the district attorneys. "The producer-defendants don't want this problem to stop.”
"Anything they are doing is window dressing, because they profit too much from the illegal drug market.”
The manufacturers have blasted the previous suits from the Tennessee district attorneys as misguided and unfair. A spokeswoman for Endo Health Solutions, one of the defendants and a leading opioid manufacturer, cited a series of moves the company had taken to avoid promoting opiates and to keep them from being taken illegally.
"It is Endo's policy not to comment on current litigation," the spokeswoman wrote in an email. "That said, we deny the allegations contained in this lawsuit and intend to vigorously defend the company."
Along with Endo, the latest suit targets other top prescription opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Additional defendants include pain management clinics described in the suit as pill mills, medical professionals and a convicted drug dealer.
Stranch said the strategy was to take on the opioid pipeline at every level.
The lawsuit seeks financial restitution for damages related to opioid addiction and overdoses in the areas represented by the prosecutors. It also seeks an injunction that would prevent the defendants from "flooding the Tennessee markets" with "illegal opioids."
The suit filed Wednesday was the latest attempt to confront the opioid epidemic in Tennessee, where more opiate prescriptions are doled out per capita than any state in the nation except West Virginia.
In December, the city of Nashville filed a federal lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, claiming they used misleading marketing claims to drive up opioid use and then violated federal law by not reporting the dangerous addictive properties of the drugs. Williamson county followed with a similar federal suit last week.
State and local officials across the country have filed similar lawsuits at the federal and state level as the nation grapples with a wave of overdoses and addiction.
Jennings Jones, district attorney for Tennessee’s 16th judicial district, which includes Rutherford County, is a plaintiff in the latest suit. He joined the effort to confront a swell of addictions and overdoses that have hit the state, and his district, as the opioid crisis grew.
"The thought behind this lawsuit is that something needs to happen,” Jones said. "I want to see the opioid manufacturers change what they're doing."
"I want to see something happen, and the sooner the better."
So far, the 14 district attorneys general involved in the trio of lawsuits in state court represent a largely rural swath of the state. Stranch, the lawyer representing the three groups of district attorneys, said he expects the coalition to grow with additional suits later this year.
"These defendants created an illegal drug market that did not exist 25 years ago through a combination of turning a blind eye to pill diversion and false marketing claims about the safety of opioid drugs," Stranch said. "Soon enough they'll be in front of a jury who will assess damages against them for their conduct."
-
Washington County commissioners discuss plans to sue big pharma
Jan 10, 2018 | WJHG (FL)
By Shelly Campbell
Washington County leaders are discussing plans to tackle the county's opioid problem and join the fight against drug companies.
"We've got a problem and we can't arrest our way out of this problem," Sheriff Kevin Crews said. "This affects every community in the nation."
Crews said opioids, in particular, have become more common.
"We could probably work as many opioid cases as we do the methamphetamine cases, cocaine cases, all the other drugs combined," Crews said.
Washington County commissioners are getting involved. They're discussing plans to sue big pharma manufacturers and distributors.
Commissioners were approached by a couple different law firms in December about joining other nearby counties in a lawsuit against opioid distributors and manufacturers.
"This problem stretches way further than just signing arrest warrants and getting people off the street," Board Chairman Tray Hawkins said. "This has become an epidemic."
If commissioners get the money, Hawkins said they'll use it for treatment.
"We have such a wonderful sheriff that we feel it would be an injustice if we didn't use this to help him with any tools in the future for him to better Washington County," Hawkins said.
Commissioners will discuss the lawsuit at the January workshop and vote at the January meeting.
-
Fourth Judicial District joins lawsuit blaming opioid producers for state's epidemic
Jan 10, 2018 | WLTV TV (TN)
By Staff
Another East Tennessee district attorney general has joined a lawsuit against producers of prescription opioids, saying they're responsible for the state's opioid epidemic.
The amended lawsuit was filed in the Campbell County Circuit Court.
The addition of Jimmy Dunn, the district attorney general representing the Fourth Judicial District, brings the number of participants to six and counties represented to 19. The Fourth Judicial District includes Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier counties.
The suit claims the defendants produced opioids and marketed them to the 19 counties listed. The district attorney generals said that marketing helped convince doctors the opioids were not likely to cause addiction, and therefore led to the current opioid epidemic the state is experiencing.
Additionally, the lawsuit stated the defendants knew about their drugs being sold in an illegal opioid market along the Interstate 75 corridor, but chose profits over people and did nothing to stop it.
The lawsuit first filed in October 2017 targets Purdue Pharma L.P. and related companies Mallinckrodt LLC; Endo Health Solutions Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. Other defendants include the now-defunct Tennessee Pain Institute and two of its former employees, as well as a convicted drug dealer. The two plaintiffs are known collectively as "Baby Doe" and represented by their guardians.
-
Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District Joins Suit Against Opioid Producers
Jan 10, 2018 | Sevier News Messenger (TN)
By Staff
The coalition of East Tennessee district attorneys general that brought an October 2017 lawsuit against several prescription opioid producers has filed an amended complaint in Campbell County Circuit Court.
The complaint now includes an additional plaintiff, District Attorney General Jimmy Dunn, who represents Tennessee’s Fourth Judicial District and the counties of Cocke, Grainger, Jefferson and Sevier. Dunn’s involvement raises the number of districts participating in the suit to six, and the number of counties represented to 19.
The initial lawsuit against Purdue Pharma L.P. and its related companies, along with Mallinckrodt LLC, Endo Health Solutions Inc. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. was originally filed by the district attorneys general of Tennessee’s Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts. The lawsuit named two plaintiffs, known collectively as Baby Doe, by and through their Guardians Ad Litem. Additional defendants named in the filing include the (now-dissolved) Tennessee Pain Institute (TPI), two former TPI employees and a convicted drug dealer.The amended opioid lawsuit alleges that:The producer defendants directed their opioids to the 19 East Tennessee counties of the state’s Fourth, Sixth, Seventh, Eighth, Ninth and Tenth Judicial Districts, while the criminal defendants participated in the illegal opioid drug market throughout the same judicial districts along the Interstate 75 corridor;Purdue Pharma embarked on a fraudulent campaign to convince physicians that OxyContin® created minimal risk of addiction;As Purdue’s marketing efforts demonstrated success in the form of rapid increases in opioid prescriptions, Mallinckrodt, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceuticals and other opioid producers joined Purdue in its fraudulent scheme;Purdue’s efforts and those of the other defendants to mislead doctors and the public about the need for, and addictive nature of, opioid drugs led to an opioid epidemic, created an environment for thousands of individuals in Tennessee to become addicted to opioids, and fueled a dramatic increase in Campbell County, Tennessee, and other East Tennessee counties in the number of individuals exposed and addicted to OxyContin, Roxicodone®, Opana® ER and other opioids, and;The producer defendants knew their products were being diverted to the illegal drug market, but did nothing to stop it — choosing profit over people.
The lawsuit demands judgment against the defendants for damages resulting from breaches of statutory and common law, seeks to award restitution to the plaintiffs, and requests an injunction to stop the flood of opioids to the region. The suit was the second complaint filed in Tennessee last year against Purdue Pharma and additional pharmaceutical companies. The first was filed in June 2017 in Sullivan County Circuit Court in Kingsport.
-
Baldwin County Commission enters legal battle in opioid crisis
Jan 10, 2018 | Yellow Hammer News (AL)
By Staff
The Baldwin County Commission is entering the legal battle when it comes to the opioid crisis.
The commission passed a resolution to sue opioid manufacturers and distributors through a Pensacola-based law firm.
County officials say the problem is endemic in their county and has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars a year for medical costs of those hospitalized or entered into treatment programs.
-
Jasper County To Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | KZRG (MO)
By Staff
The Jasper County Commission is going after companies that make opioids. The Commission Tuesday (1/9) passed a resolution to sue eight pharmaceutical companies though a St. Louis-based law firm. Jasper County Presiding Commissioner John Bartosh tells News Talk KZRG the Commission became interested when it learned people from out of state were taking advantage of Missouri’s lack of prescription drug monitoring.
“People are coming into Missouri because they weren’t monitored here. So once we got that figured out and somebody brought that to our attention, everybody around here just started jumping on the bandwagon.”
The pharmaceutical companies named in the lawsuit are: Perdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, McKesson Pharmaceutical, Cardinal Health Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., AmerisourceBergen and Janssen.
-
Jasper County Commissioners Decide to Join Multi-County Lawsuit
Jan 10, 2018 | KOAM (MO)
By Veronica Utecht
Andy Martin is a pharmacist at Express RX in Carthage. He keeps an eye out for people who might be abusing opioids, by getting to know his patients.
With Jasper County joining a multi-county lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, he has hopes for what they may use their cut of the potential settlement for.
"Hopefully they would find some to enhance educational programs, some preventive programs. Looking to the future to help curb abuse" says Dr. Martin.
Although there is no confirmed amount of money they are seeking from the lawsuit, Commissioner Bartosh says it will be in the millions of dollars.
But the value of a victorious lawsuit, goes deeper than the dollar amount.
"Hopefully we'll get something out of it. If it's not money, maybe we can get them to stop pushing these kinds of drugs" says Bartosh.
Bartosh explains the misinformation some opioid manufacturers used with doctors.
"This stuff is not addictive and they can use it for this and don't be afraid to use it for that. And it says right on the bottle not to use it for certain things and they said 'it's ok, we just do that for safety.'"
In addition to the lawsuit, there's another new way Jasper county is getting on top of the opioid epidemic in the new year.
"With every controlled prescription we fill, we have to submit that data to the monitoring program, so that will give other pharmacies access and other prescribers access to look. So they can see if patients are seeing multiple doctors" says Dr. Martin.
There are 11 pharmaceutical companies named in the lawsuit so far, but one of the attorneys says more will likely be added.
Bartosh says any money received in a potential settlement would go into a reserve fund, but could be moved elsewhere depending on the need.
-
Montmorency board takes step toward opioid litigation
Jan 11, 2018 | The Alpena News (MI)
By Julie Goldberg
The Montmorency County Board of Commissioners took another step in its decision to join the opioid litigation it has been discussing for a couple weeks.
Chairman Daryl Peterson and Vice Chair Dave Wagner spoke to county attorney Bryan Graham and after speaking to him, decided to have Graham write request for proposals that will be sent to area attorneys.
“This is going to take a long time and it’s not going to happen overnight,” Peterson said. “I have a feeling it will take five or six years, and if that’s the case, I don’t want our future county commissioners forced to pay for something that we got ourselves into and didn’t know what we were doing.”
Commissioner Stacy Carroll said that by going after the pharmaceutical companies, hopefully the legislature will look into the opioid problem.
“Legislation will enforce stiffer penalties and stiffer laws, but it’s a no win and it’s going to be never ending,” Carroll said.
She said medical examiners have talked about how there is not a statewide database where they can record opioid-related deaths.
“They’re looking at this and realizing that they’re not documenting things the way they need to be. So now they’re documenting things the way they need to be,” she said. “There’s a lawsuit now and they’re trying to scramble and get things documented. It’s going to be a nightmare and it’s going to take a long time.”
Sheriff Chad Brown said the lawsuit is not going to be a corrective action to fix the opioid problem.
“This lawsuit isn’t going to stop anyone from using or doctors from prescribing,” he said. “As far as preventative measures, this lawsuit has nothing to do with prevention. It is trying to reimburse the counties that have spent any money to combat the opioid crisis.”
Undersheriff Brian Crane said everyone needs to start having serious conversations about the risk and reward with the lawsuit.
“We know how many things are opioid related and being able to prove that is totally different,” Crane said. “I’m not sure that the risk and reward is worth it right now.”
Brown said the counties believe that if the opioid problem is an issue, they need to start talking, push legislation to hold accountability beyond a financial one toward the big pharmaceuticals.
“If we’re being realistic, the lawsuit has nothing to do with correcting the opioid crisis, it’s getting back some of the expenses,” he said. “If we’re being serious about attacking it, then we need to start as a county being proactive and contact (legislators). There’s where it really is going to start.”
After discussing what would be the right option and hearing thoughts from different county employees, the commissioners decided to send out the RFPs to area attorneys before deciding whether or not to join the opioid litigation.
-
Kewaunee County joins lawsuit against opioid manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | Green Bay Press Gazette (WI)
By Christopher Clough
Add Kewaunee County to the list of those across the state that are seeking to file suit against a number of pharmaceutical companies for damages related to marketing of prescription opioid painkillers.
At its December board meeting, the county approved a resolution by a 19-1 vote to join the lawsuit that has already been filed in federal court. Brown, Door and Manitowoc counties also have signed on, making 60 of the state's 72 counties that have joined the suit,
According to a press release from law firms Crueger Dickinson LLC and Simmons Hanly Conroy, the counties seek compensatory and punitive damages for millions of dollars spent each year “to combat the public nuisance created by the drug companies’ deceptive marketing campaign that misrepresents the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use.”
Suits filed in U.S. district court in Milwaukee seek millions of dollars for the costs of social services, law enforcement and emergency care in responding to the opioid epidemic in each county. The companies created a public nuisance through deceptive marketing that misrepresents the safety of long-term opioid use, the lawsuits allege.
"County governments are bearing the brunt of the costs," said Erin Dickinson of Crueger Dickinson, lead counsel along with partner Charles Crueger in the lawsuits filed this month. "Defendants must be held responsible for the devastating effects their actions have produced on counties across this country.”
Wisconsin has averaged more than 600 yearly opioid-related deaths in a three-year period, figures show. Milwaukee County, alone, has already had more than 300 such deaths this year.
The opioid lawsuit is similar to a case in which 46 states sued cigarette manufacturers, seeking to recover some of the billions of dollars in tobacco-related health-care costs incurred by those states and the people living in them. Four companies settled with the states in the 1990s, agreeing to pay the states more than $200 billion over a 25-year period and to cease certain marketing practices.
Kewaunee County Administrator Scott Feldt said this is similar to a class-action suit, and the county doesn't have much to do to move it forward at this point.
"As it moves down the line, we may need to provide documentation as to the costs the county incurred to combat opioid addiction," Feldt said.
The opioid epidemic, particularly involving the abuse of heroin and its 50-times-stronger stronger cousin, fentanyl, hits communities in a range of ways.
» Crime: Users often to turn to crime to get money to buy drugs. Brown County District Attorney David Lasee said drug issues fuel crimes ranging from burglaries and simple thefts to violent crimes like robberies.
In cases where an overdose kills someone, the DA's office will prosecute the person who provided the drugs. Such cases are now known as "Len Bias cases," after the former Maryland basketball star who fatally overdosed in 1986 on drugs provided by a friend, Brian Tribble; he would later be indicted on cocaine charges.
» Public safety: Drug issues place additional burdens on police and firefighters.
Police must devote time and effort tracking stolen goods that addicts have pawned for money. Firefighters and paramedics must be trained on and supplied with Narcan, the common name for a drug that can counteract a drug overdose.
» Courts: Drug cases often clog the system, as prosecutors with limited resources must sometimes choose between prosecuting drug cases and other crimes.
In recent years, Brown has hired additional prosecutors to help clear backlogged drug cases. While that can help in the short term, it's tax money that could be used for other things.
» Jails: A backlog of drug cases can crowd county jails.
Counties with limited space, like Brown, must send inmates to other counties — and pay to house them there. Brown County Executive Troy Streckenbach said his county's costs, while not all drug-related, could approach $1 million next year.
» Health care: Users require treatment not only when they overdose but tend to suffer higher instances of hepatitis C and other conditions. Additionally, hospitals and communities face increased pressure to provide drug-treatment and detoxification beds.
Wisconsin's opioid overdose deaths rose from 5.9 per 100,000 residents in 2006 to 10.7 per 100,000 residents in 2015, the Department of Public Health Services found. Opioid-related hospital visits in Wisconsin, which include inpatient hospitalizations and emergency department visits, have doubled in the past decade.
In the group of 28 counties that originally filed the suit, more than 320 people died from opioid overdoses between 2013 and 2015, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The grim tally in Wisconsin reached 1,824 deaths in that period.
More than two dozen states, cities and counties around the U.S. have sued to hold pharmaceutical drug-makers and distributors accountable for bad faith business practices and misrepresentation in marketing of opioids.
In 2015, more than 31,000 U.S. residents died from opioid overdoses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
-
Hamilton County hires outside lawyer to sue opioid makers, distributors
Jan 10, 2018 | Cinncinati (OH)
By Monroe Trombly
Hamilton County Commissioners passed a resolution Wednesday to hire a special counsel to pursue civil litigation against wholesale opioid distributors and manufacturers who have played a role in causing and creating the opioid and heroin epidemic currently facing the county.
The resolution, passed unanimously by all three commissioners, authorizes the county's prosecutor and administrator to employ Paul T. Farrell, Jr. of Farrell, Bailey, & Tweel and his litigation partners.
Commissioner Denise Driehaus, said 193 other jurisdictions in the country have engaged Farrell for his services, including Clermont County and Cincinnati. The city sued three opioid distributors in federal court last August.
The commissioners would not comment on which opioid manufacturers or distributors might be sued.
The special counsel was hired on a contingent fee basis, meaning there is no cost to the county if the suit is unsuccessful.
"If we don't do this, we will have no ability to recover the cost to taxpayers that we are incurring already in fighting the scourge of the heroin epidemic," said commission president Todd Portune.
The commissioners cited how the over-prescription of opioids and the heroin crisis has led to an increased need for law enforcement, increased cases in the court system, overcrowding in the Hamilton County jail, and more children placed in the foster care system.
The Hamilton County Heroin Coalition has taken steps in recent years to stem the flow of overdoses and provide resources for people addicted to heroin and opioids.
The coalition, chaired by Driehaus, partners with hospitals and nonprofits around the county. Driehaus said $4 million has been spent by the coalition.
Hamilton County boosted its Narcan doses by 400 percent last year to provide a steady supply for jails, syringe exchange programs, emergency departments and faith-based groups.
The state of Ohio ranked second behind only West Virginia in overdose deaths for 2016.
The Enquirer reported in September that Hamilton County sees an average of one opioid overdose death per day. Ohio has about 11 overdoses deaths each day.
-
Winona Co. considers suing opioid makers
Jan 10, 2018 | Winona Post (MN)
By Chris Rogers
Winona County plans to consider jumping on the opioid litigation train. Late last month, the Winona County Board agreed to talk with private law firms about joining lawsuits brought by various Minnesota counties against certain manufacturers of prescription opioid painkillers.
Numerous counties across the U.S., including Trempealeau County, have filed lawsuits accusing the makers of prescription opioid painkillers of knowingly marketing their products to doctors as less addictive than they really were, and that their drugs contributed to opioid addictions, deaths, and costs to county law enforcement, emergency responders, and human services agencies. The manufacturers — some of the biggest drug companies in the U.S. — deny the claims, say that, used carefully, opioid painkillers can be safe and effective, and that they have tried to make sure the drugs are used safely.
Trempealeau County recently agreed to file suit. There was, more or less, nothing to lose, the Wisconsin county’s leaders said. The law firm representing Trempealeau County only collects fees if the county wins a monetary settlement, though county staff will have to spend time collecting data to assist the lawyers in making their case. Winona County Attorney Karin Sonneman told Winona County Board members that she would expect a similar arrangement if they chose to pursue a lawsuit, too.
Winona County Board member Marcia Ward is fairly active in inter-county organizations, and Winona County’s consideration of litigation began earlier this winter, when she brought up the fact that other Minnesota counties are pursuing lawsuits and asked whether Winona County should, too. Sonneman researched the issue and recommended four different law firms to consider.
Sonneman likened the opioid lawsuits currently being brought across the U.S. to the tobacco litigation of the 1990s, in which cigarette makers paid out large financial awards and those awards were used by governments for public health initiatives and other programs.
“I am suggesting that the board consider joining the litigation as other counties have done,” Sonneman said at the County Board’s December 27 meeting. “This is very similar to what happened in the tobacco litigation … Here, it is the manufacturers who were giving information about how the drugs were not as addictive as they turned out to be, and also the distributors who were distributing way to much to the doctors and the providers.”
Although she brought it up, Ward expressed a little skepticism about moving forward at the meeting. Does Winona County really have such a bad opioid problem, she asked, and would there be any potential legal risks to the county if it sued?
Sonneman said those would be important questions to ask the law firms before actually filing suit. The entire County Board agreed to go ahead with discussing the possibility more with the firms Sonneman suggested. “This is step one,” County Board member Marie Kovecsi stated.
“I think it makes sense,” County Board member Steve Jacob said. “We’ve got people on both ends of the system that are being damaged. First off, we want to put a stop to opioid abuse, and if we do nothing, we’re doing nothing.” Secondly, taxpayers are being hurt by having to foot the bill for the added demand for emergency services, law enforcement, and social services the opioid addiction is contributing to, he added. “I don’t think we’d be doing a fair service if we didn’t look into this,” he stated. -
County taking prescription opioid manufacturers to court
Jan 10, 2018 | ABC Newspapers (MN)
By Peter Bodley
Anoka County plans to take prescription opioid manufacturers to federal court following a spike in opioid-related deaths.
The Anoka County Board Jan. 2 approved a letter of engagement with three law firms for the “investigation and prosecution of certain claims against manufacturers and other parties involved with the manufacture of opioid medications.”
The law firms hired are New York City-based Simmons Hanly Conroy LLC and two from Wisconsin, Crueger Dickinson LLC and von Briesen & Roper, s.c.
According to Anoka County Attorney Tony Palumbo, three proposals were received to represent the county as counsel in the lawsuit and the trio was chosen after the board interviewed all three proposals.
“The County Board members did an excellent job at the interviews with a lot of insightful questions,” Palumbo said.
The New York law firm has filed lawsuits against opioid manufacturers for the past 10 years, many on behalf of individuals, but all three have been involved in numerous opioid-related lawsuits launched by government agencies, he said.
“They are very, very experienced in these matters,” Palumbo said.
The Anoka County lawsuit will target opioid manufacturers, not distributors, according to Palumbo.
He expects the complaint to be filed in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis in the next few weeks, Palumbo said.
Then the case will be transferred to the northern federal district of Ohio, where all lawsuits nationwide involving opioid manufacturers are being consolidated, but any trial will take place in Minneapolis, Palumbo said.
The prescription opioid manufacturers named in the letter of engagement are Purdue Pharma L.P., Purdue Pharma Inc., The Purdue Frederick Company Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc., Cephalon Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Endo Health Solutions Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc.
“A lot of thought went into this as well as due diligence before moving forward,” said Anoka County Board Chairperson Rhonda Sivarajah.
Prescription opioid use has had a significant impact on lives in the county and its communities, she said.
“It’s important to move forward,” Sivarajah said.
Under the terms of the engagement letter, there is no fee for services unless “a monetary recovery obtained by counsel in favor of the county, whether by suit, settlement or otherwise.”
In the event of a successful lawsuit, the law firms would receive a gross fee of 25 percent of the monetary recovery divided among them as set out in the engagement letter.
“The county will not be spending any tax dollars on this lawsuit and only a limited amount of staff time will be involved,” said Commissioner Scott Schulte. “We all went into this with our eyes wide open.”
According to Palumbo, the lawsuit will be a lengthy process and he expected it to be “fully litigated” by both sides.
Counties and cities across the country have been filing lawsuits against prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors, and in late November, a group of Minnesota counties, including Ramsey, Washington, Olmsted, Dakota, Carver and Mower counties, announced they had hired a Minneapolis-based law firm for a legal action targeting the companies’ alleged widespread and deceptive marketing campaign.
Hennepin County has also retained a law firm for a similar lawsuit, Palumbo said, but had not yet made a decision on proceeding with a lawsuit at the time of those announcements.
According to a story in the county’s Anoka County News fall issue, in Minnesota, prescribed opioids, such as oxycodone and hydrocodone, accounted for the greatest number of opioid-involved deaths in 2016: 186.
-
No Tribal Jurisdiction In Cherokee Opioid Suit, Judge Says
Jan 10, 2018 | Law360
By Michael Phillis
An Oklahoma federal judge on Tuesday halted a suit filed by the Cherokee Nation in tribal court that sought to hold a group of pharmacies and drug distributors responsible for rampant opioid addiction among tribe members, deciding the tribal court doesn’t have jurisdiction to hear the claims.
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern issued a preliminary injunction that prevents CVS Health, McKesson Corp. and other companies from having to face the tribe's lawsuit. While Judge Kern said he was sympathetic to the damage caused to the tribe by opioids, its common law claims don’t involve tribal sovereignty or a commercial relationship that would allow it to assert its power over nonmembers of the tribe.
The ruling also said the suit’s efforts to enforce tribal provisions against deceptive acts weren’t appropriate for tribal court. The tribal provision claims were in effect an attempt to enforce the Controlled Substances Act, which is the sole purview of the federal government, the court said.
The Cherokee Nation filed its suit in April, alleging the companies allowed opioid abuse to reach epidemic proportions — a tribal study found 70 to 80 percent of crimes that "lead to convictions" of Cherokee citizens were drug-related — and that illegally prescribed medication got into the hands of tribal members. In response, the group of drug distributors and pharmacies in June filed the present case in federal court to stop the tribal court claims.
“The court is sympathetic to the Cherokee Nation’s efforts to stem the proliferation of opioids and repair some of the damage that the nationwide opioid crisis has caused to the tribe and its members,” Judge Kern wrote. “However, a generalized threat of injury to the tribe or its members from tortious conduct is not enough to confer tribal jurisdiction over the conduct of nonmembers.”
The Supreme Court case Montana v. United States established the specific circumstances in which a tribal court could assert its jurisdiction over a nonmember. One exception allows for jurisdiction if there is a threat to the welfare of the tribe, such as its sovereignty. In this case, there is no such threat, Judge Kern said.
“The epidemic of opioid abuse undoubtedly has had devastating consequences for individuals and families within the Cherokee Nation, with certain economic costs borne by tribal agencies and other entities,” the opinion said. “However, these consequences do not threaten the Cherokee Nation’s ability ‘to make its own laws and be ruled by them.’”
And tribal courts can assert jurisdiction if there is some kind of “consensual relationship” at stake, which often concerns some kind of business transaction, the judge said. But there isn’t enough of a relationship for the tribal courts to assert jurisdiction here, the opinion said. For example, there is no contractual relationship between the parties over opioids, according to the opinion.
Allegations brought under the Cherokee Nation Unfair and Deceptive Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive acts, also fail, the opinion said. The companies said the claim actually is an attempt to enforce the Controlled Substances Act, and the court agreed. The CSA doesn’t allow claims by private parties.
Usually, jurisdictional challenges must first be heard in tribal court, but here, there is no need for the companies to deal with litigation that is clearly not under the tribal court’s purview, according to Judge Kern.
“The apparent scope of this case, the potential amount of damages, and the number of parties make clear that here … there is a ‘significant risk’ that plaintiffs ‘will be forced to expend unnecessary time and effort on litigation in a court that does not have jurisdiction over them,” Judge Kern said in support of his decision to issue a preliminary injunction.
In a statement, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree said the tribe wants to move forward with its case by refiling in state court.
“The opioid crisis in the Cherokee Nation was fueled by the defendants’ decision to prioritize profits over the well-being of Cherokee citizens. In 2015 and 2016 alone, distributors shipped and pharmacies dispensed 184 million opioid pain pills in the 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma that comprise the Cherokee Nation — or 153 doses for every man, woman and child,” Hembree’s statement said. “We are confident in the case we’ve prepared and look forward to quickly refiling our lawsuit.”
A spokesperson for CVS said the company was pleased with the decision, adding “we remain committed to helping reduce prescription drug abuse and diversion.”
CVS Health Corp. is represented by G. Calvin Sharpe and Amy D. White of Phillips Murrah PC, and Richard Schirtzer and J.D. Horton of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is represented by Stuart P. Ashworth, Jane L. Cowdery, Don W. Danz and Steven E. Holden of Holden & Carr.
Cardinal Health Inc. is represented by Ryan A. Ray and Joel L. Wohlgemuth of Norman Wohlgemuth Chandler Jeter Barnett & Ray PC, James J. Proszek of Hall Estill Hardwick Gable Golden & Nelson PC, and Enu Mainigi, F. Lane Heard and Steven M. Pyser of Williams & Connolly LLP.
AmerisourceBergen Corp. is represented by D. Michael McBride III and Susan E. Huntsman of Crowe & Dunlevy, Thomas F. Gede of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP, Robert A. Nicholas and Thomas H. Suddath of Reed Smith LLP and Alvin L. Emch of Jackson Kelly PLLC.
McKesson Corp. is represented by Stuart D. Campbell and Kaylee Davis-Maddy of Doerner Saunders Daniel & Anderson LLP, Russell D. Jessee of Steptoe & Johnson PLLC, and Geoffrey Hobart and Matthew Benov of Covington & Burling LLP.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is represented by Karen P. Hewitt, James R. Wooley, Laura Jane Durfee and Claire E. Castles of Jones Day, and Larry D. Ottaway and Amy Sherry Fischer of Foliart Huff Ottaway & Bottom.
Hembree is represented by the Cherokee Nation's Chrissi Ross Nimmo, John Young and Chad Harsha, Richard Fields of Fields Law PLLC, William Ohlemeyer, Stephen N. Zack, Tyler Ulrich and Patricia A. Melville of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP, Curtis "Muskrat" Bruehl of The Bruehl Firm, and Lloyd B. Miller, Donald J. Simon, Frank S. Holleman and Rebecca A. Patterson of Sonosky Chambers Sachse Endreson & Perry LLP.
The case is McKesson Corp. et al. v. Hembree et al., case number 4:17-cv-00323, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma. -
Judge deals setback to Cherokee Nation lawsuit over opioids
Jan 10, 2018 | Reuters
By Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton
A federal judge in Oklahoma has dealt a blow to a Cherokee Nation lawsuit seeking to stop the flow of addictive opioid painkillers in its territory by issuing a preliminary injunction to prevent the case from being heard in tribal court.
In a decision late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern ruled the tribal court lacked jurisdiction because the lawsuit involving six wholesale drug distributors and pharmacy operators does not directly concern tribal self-government.
“While noting Defendants’ (Cherokee Nation's) evidence of the harm opioid abuse has caused to individual tribal members and families, and costs borne by the tribe, the Court cannot plausibly find that such harm is ‘catastrophic for tribal self-government'," Kern said.
The Cherokee Nation in April 2017 became the first major Native American tribe to seek redress in tribal court from wholesale drug distributors and pharmacy operators.
The tribe said the highly addictive painkillers were saturating its territory and contributing to violence, delinquency and mortality. It argued in its lawsuit that the defendants had turned a blind eye to problems in their supply chains by failing to protect opioids from theft or refusing to fulfill suspicious orders by pharmacies, doctors and patients.
The suit came as several states, local governments and tribes have sued drug makers and distributors over a drug crisis declared a national public health emergency by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Wholesale drug distributors and pharmacy operators McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc, AmerisourceBergen, CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc responded with a lawsuit in federal court in Tulsa in June 2017, saying the tribe lacked jurisdiction.
The companies said the lawsuit attempted to civilly enforce a federal statute, the Controlled Substances Act, under the guise of the tribe's statutory and common law.
In a statement on Wednesday, Cherokee Nation Attorney General Todd Hembree said, “We continue to believe in our case, and we are prepared to fight to hold these companies accountable in state court."
The sovereign Cherokee Nation is the largest tribal nation in the United States with 335,000 citizens, according to the tribe's court filing.
The lawsuit said that from 2003 to 2014, more than 350 opioid-related deaths occurred within the Cherokee Nation, which comprises 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma.
The case is McKesson Corporation, et al, v. Hembree, et al, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Oklahoma, No. 17-cv-323.
-
Blocked in tribal courts, Cherokee Nation to pursue opioid lawsuit in state court, officials say
Jan 11, 2018 | Tulsa World (OK)
By Michael Overall
Blocked from pursuing the case in tribal court, the Cherokee Nation plans to sue several major corporations in state court for allegedly creating “an epidemic of prescription opioid drug abuse” among Native Americans, officials said Wednesday.
Cherokee Attorney General Todd Hembree originally filed the lawsuit last April in tribal court, arguing that federal and Cherokee law gives tribal judges jurisdiction over non-Indians when they are threatening the “political integrity, economic security or health and welfare” of the tribe.
The companies, including Walmart, Walgreens, CVS and other major drug distributors, responded by asking a U.S. District Court in Tulsa to declare that Cherokee courts have no jurisdiction over them. And Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Terence Kern agreed, ruling that “the mere act of doing business with a tribe or its members, even on tribal land, does not subject a nonmember to broad tribal civil authority.”
The ruling was a preliminary injunction and, theoretically, the Cherokee Nation could continue arguing in federal court that the case should be allowed to proceed under tribal jurisdiction. But instead, the tribe will refile the case in a state court, Hembree said Wednesday.
“The opioid crisis in the Cherokee Nation was fueled by the defendants’ decision to prioritize profits over the well-being of Cherokee citizens,” Hembree said. “In 2015 and 2016 alone, distributors shipped and pharmacies dispensed 184 million opioid pain pills in the 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma that comprise the Cherokee Nation — or 153 doses for every man, woman and child. The defendants knowingly turned a blind eye to the harm they caused.”
Written with help from out-of-state law firms, the original case pits the Cherokee Nation against some of the biggest names in the pharmaceutical industry, including the McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. Combined, the three companies account for nearly 90 percent of all revenues from drug distribution in the United States, according to the original lawsuit.
-
City Selects Law Firm to Sue Opiate Manufacturers
Jan 10, 2018 | This is Reno (NV)
By Bob Conrad
The Reno City Council today selected the law firm of Eglet Price of Las Vegas to sue manufacturers of opiates.
Reno is seeking “litigation to recover monetary damages for the negative impacts of opioids,” according to city staff.
The selection of Eglet Price comes with local firm Bradley, Drendel & Jeanney, which will be the city’s contact in the suit. Eglet Price was the top-rated firm, of four, by city staff.
Clark County, which is also using Eglet Price, has initiated litigation against opiate manufacturers, similar to how tobacco companies were sued in the ’90s by 46 states.
But, the city’s action goes against the wishes of Nevada’s Attorney General, Adam Laxalt, who wants to address the issue at the state level.
“While this office commends the determination to protect Reno residents, we continue to believe Nevada is best positioned in the bipartisan multistate effort of 40 attorneys general,” said Monica Moazez, Laxalt’s spokesperson. “We hope that any lawsuits by local jurisdictions do not unintentionally undermine our ongoing bipartisan investigation.”
The city’s litigation efforts could be combined with Clark County and may take many years to be resolved. Legal costs will be assumed by the law firms, which will get 25 percent of any settlement or judgment, in addition to attorney fees, according to city staff.
The City of Reno would then get paid a portion of the payout.
-
COUNTY JOINS LAWSUIT AGAINST PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY
Jan 10, 2018 | Groesbeck Journal (TX)
By Roxanne Thompson
Limestone County commissioners voted to join 28 other Texas counties in a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma, a major company that produces and sells opioid-based painkillers.
The vote came at the court’s Dec. 27 meeting, after a presentation by Dallas-based attorney Blake Beckham, who also is a Limestone County landowner.
Beckham gave details of the opioid addiction crisis sweeping the nation and also told the commissioners the county needed to become part of the lawsuit before the state does, to protect its interests and get part of any settlement.
He said he had recently joined forces with Jeffrey Simon, a Dallas-based attorney who specializes in litigation cases against pharmaceutical companies.
Beckham explained that before this opioid crisis, opium-based medicines were mainly used for cancer, end-of-life care and under careful supervision by a doctor.
New versions of pain-killers, however, use small doses of opioids in the form of time-released pills and are commonly prescribed, with less oversight.
“The shocking thing about this opioid epidemic is that there are more people in the United States that use opioids daily than cigarettes,” Beckham said.
Today there are about 20 million people addicted to heroin, he said, which is 40 times as many as were addicted to crack cocaine at the height of its respective wave of addictions in the 1990s. Also, he said, heroin addiction was on a decline before this new wave of opioid addiction started.
“We now have an addiction process that starts in a trusted doctor’s office,” Beckham said. “We’ve got Baptist ministers that started out with a hurt ankle, and instead of getting physical therapy and aspirin, they got Oxycotin. Within four days they are addicted.”
Every county in Texas is affected, he said, causing expenses to the counties, the loss of valuable members of society, extra deaths and everything else that goes along with drug addictions.
-
Methuen councilors weren't aware of opioid suit
Jan 11, 2018 | Eagle Tribune (MA)
By Lisa Kashinsky
The city joined a national movement against big pharmaceutical companies this week by filing a lawsuit taking on several major firms that manufacture and distribute opioids.
However, it appears not all of the city's top governing officials were aware of the legal action.
Several city councilors said Wednesday that they had no knowledge of the “public nuisance” suit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston on Monday that lists the city of Methuen as the plaintiff, at least until they saw an article in The Eagle-Tribune that appeared online Tuesday evening and in print Wednesday.
East District Councilor Steven Saba, a newcomer to the council, said he met with City Solicitor Richard D'Agostino last Friday to talk about lawsuits the city was involved with, but that the opioid lawsuit did not come up in the conversation.
“They could have called; there's only nine councilors,” Saba said.
Based on The Eagle-Tribune story, Saba said he's “not necessarily” against the lawsuit, but he repeatedly said in a phone interview Wednesday he wished to have been informed in advance.
“I ran for City Council because I wanted to get things done the right way and I'm not too happy with the way it's starting,” Saba said.
Returning West District Councilor George Kazanjian also said he was not aware of the lawsuit.
“I think we all should see something further, seeing as the city is part of this now,” he said of whether he hoped to hear about the lawsuit at the next council meeting. “I don't even know what grounds they're going under.”
Several councilors also responded to an Eagle-Tribune request for comment via email Wednesday, including East District Councilor Eunice Zeigler, at-large Councilor Jessica Finocchiaro and Central District Councilor James McCarty. The three councilors, all newcomers, said they were not previously aware of the lawsuit. Vice Chairwoman Lynn Vidler, a returning councilor, also said she had not been aware of the lawsuit.
Returning at-large Councilor Jennifer Kannan, who was elected as chairwoman last week, was quoted in the initial Eagle-Tribune article about the lawsuit. Her remarks were taken from a statement released Tuesday by D'Agostino, the city solicitor.
D'Agostino later clarified he had not vetted that statement with Kannan prior to disseminating the press release. He said other councilors were not previously told about the lawsuit because it had not been filed until this week.
Kannan did not respond to multiple requests for comment as of press time Wednesday.
Methuen is one of several communities throughout the country that are taking legal action against major drug companies in the wake of the ongoing opioid crisis. The city joins a growing list of groups who have filed similar suits, including several counties in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio, as well as multiple Native American tribes.
Several lawsuits go after both opioid manufacturers and distributors, naming well-known companies including AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corporation.
Those three companies are listed in Methuen's complaint, as well. McKesson, a pharmaceutical distributor, has a Methuen location at 9 Aegean Drive.
Methuen's lawsuit also names companies including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Cephalon Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., among others.
The city's lawsuit has been in the works for some time. Richard Sandman, an attorney with Rodman, Rodman & Sandman of Malden, which is spearheading complaints like Methuen's across Massachusetts, said he approached D'Agostino about the matter last fall. A contract naming Sandman's firm and others was signed off on by the city in late October.
The city is not directly paying for legal fees. Rather, the firms will get paid a percentage of the settlement, should the lawsuit be successful.
Sandman said the concept behind the lawsuit is that drug manufacturers have “flooded the markets” with opioids, ignoring warnings and data about addiction, and that distributors “have failed to accomplish what their mandate has been, which is to report suspicious sales.”
The lawsuits aim to recoup money communities have spent on the opioid crisis, including from police and medical calls, to providing treatment resources to those battling addiction, to education efforts.
Filing the lawsuit as a “public nuisance” and not as a class action is by design, Sandman said, as each community is affected differently by the epidemic.
-
It's Time To Take On Big Opioid Like We Did With Big Tobacco (EDITORIAL)
Jan 10, 2018 | BuzzFeed News
By James E. Tierney
The unchecked flood of opioids into our country has caused unspeakable damage, and the companies that manufacture them will inevitably be held accountable. When that moment comes, it is vital that we avoid the mistakes made in our attempts to hold Big Tobacco accountable.
I helped coordinate the tobacco lawsuits of the 1990s, which ended with a giant settlement deal that would cost cigarette makers more than $200 billion and require major changes to the industry. But much of that money was wasted, and countless people have died as a result.
We can’t let that happen again, and now is the time to start talking about what a Big Tobacco–style national settlement with Big Opioid should look like — and to demand nothing less from our state and federal leaders.
The courageous state attorneys general who sued Big Tobacco were not naive — they knew it would be a long, complex fight, and that changing corporate behavior and using settlement funds wisely would not be easy. They proposed sweeping tobacco marketing reforms, and fought to ensure that funds would be devoted to public health.
But in the scramble toward a final resolution of the cases, these wise goals were lost. No meaningful regulation of the tobacco industry emerged until 2009, when Congress finally passed legislation that subjects cigarettes to the regulation of the United States Food and Drug Administration.
Just as disastrous was the fate of those tobacco settlement dollars — historic sums of money extracted from corporations for historic misdeeds against society. Governors and state legislators used them to pay for roads, lower taxes, or to meet budget shortfalls. In many states future cash flows from tobacco settlements were sold to investors in return for a onetime cash payment that disappeared into one-off government spending. That kind of failed short-term thinking can’t be repeated.
Despite the shortcomings, historic progress was made in the wake of the tobacco cases. Smoking rates, especially among children, fell dramatically. When we started in 1994, fully 35% of teenagers smoked, and today that percentage is 15%.
But this success was a pale shadow of what might have been. Today 36 million Americans continue to smoke, and tobacco remains the number one cause of preventable deaths in our country. We can’t let that happen again in our response to the opioid crisis.
That response won’t match perfectly with the tobacco cases, even though the behavior of some in the pharmaceutical industry has been egregious and clearly warrants legal action. Unlike tobacco, opioids entered our communities via the gateway of prescriptions by physicians and was distributed by pharmacists, all of whom are regulated by state licenses.
There will also be a difference in the sums of money involved — the more than $200 billion paid out by cigarette makers reflects the vast scale of their industry and profits, and the correspondingly vast public health costs they created. Opioids have their own unique evils, but have fortunately not yet reached the scale of cigarettes — and unlike tobacco, they are not inherently bad for everyone: They relieve real pain for millions of Americans.
Regardless, as the vast scope of a national crisis becomes clearer and the death toll mounts, the pressure on litigation targets to settle will become insurmountable.
When that day comes, attorneys general must make sure that opioid marketing be reformed and permanently monitored, and that all funds from opioid settlements go into public health. Opioid settlement funds cannot be siphoned to pay for criminal law enforcement or useless “just say no” public relations campaigns. They must be used for the treatment of the millions of our neighbors who are suffering from addiction.
And just as in tobacco cases, settlements must reflect geography of the suffering caused by pharmaceutical company behavior. The opiate crisis is not decimating all regions equally.
To accomplish this, today’s attorneys general should task a team of independent experts to determine now the best ways to monitor the pharmaceutical industry and treat opioid abuse. This isn’t a knock on the abilities of state attorneys general and their counsel, but rather a simple recognition that the skills needed to pursue difficult litigation and negotiate a meaningful settlement are different to the ones needed to figure out how to reform complex pharmaceutical marketing and not waste settlement funds that come to the states.
We need to start discussing the contours of an opioid settlement today, and to demand that public health principles be front and center. Without that discussion, and the priorities that emerge from it, we are destined to repeat past mistakes that must not be repeated.
We still live with the terrible human toll of tobacco use decades after we pledged as a country to address the crisis. Living with the opioid epidemic for decades to come cannot be a choice that any of us should accept.
James E. Tierney served as the attorney general of Maine for 10 years, and has since consulted with state attorneys general on a wide variety of issues including the tobacco cases of the 1990s. He currently teaches at Harvard Law School, where he is a lecturer on law and directs the State Attorney General Clinic. He is the director of StateAG.org.
-
Trump declared an opioids emergency. Then nothing changed. (EDITORIAL)
Jan 11, 2018 | Politico
By Brianna Ehley
President Donald Trump in October promised to "liberate" Americans from the "scourge of addiction," officially declaring a 90-day public health emergency that would urgently mobilize the federal government to tackle the opioid epidemic.
AUDIO LINK: https://www.politico.com/story/2018/01/11/opioids-epidemic-trump-addiction-emergency-order-335848
That declaration runs out on Jan. 23, and beyond drawing more attention to the crisis, virtually nothing of consequence has been done.
Trump has not formally proposed any new resources or spending, typically the starting point for any emergency response. He promised to roll out a “really tough, really big, really great” advertising campaign to spread awareness about addiction, but that has yet to take shape. And key public health and drug posts in the administration remain vacant, so it’s not clear who has the authority to get new programs moving.
A senior White House official disputed the assessment of inaction, saying the emergency declaration has allowed the president to use "his bully pulpit to draw further attention to this emergency that he inherited." The official added that the declaration has enabled federal agencies to "really change their focus and prioritize the crisis," and that getting an effective media campaign underway "takes time."
The president’s emergency declaration can be extended, though the White House official said that's up to the Health and Human Services secretary, or, currently, the acting secretary. Regardless of whether the declaration is renewed, "the president will continue to draw attention to this crisis as a national emergency," the official said.
But given the record so far, some public health officials question whether it would make much difference.
In West Virginia, which has the highest drug overdose death rate in the country, Public Health Commissioner Rahul Gupta hasn’t seen any significant change under Trump’s emergency order. “His thoughts and prayers have helped,” Gupta said. “But additional funding and resources would be more helpful."
“I have not seen an explosion of activity linked to this declaration,” said Rob Morrison, executive director of the National Association of State Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors, cautioning that he hasn't been closely monitoring state activity. “None of our members have knocked on my door to say they have been provided money or actual people on the ground.”
The emergency designation gave federal health agencies the power to move quickly against the epidemic in several ways, including hiring more treatment specialists and reallocating money to amp up the response. An HHS spokesperson declined to provide details on whether and where those powers were used, or on what scale.
The senior White House official said the administration has made significant steps to combat the crisis within the past year. He pointed to legislation signed into law by Trump on Wednesday that will help Customs and Border Protection agents crack down on the trafficking of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which are responsible for a surge of opioid deaths. That measure was introduced last March, well before the emergency declaration, but the administration official said the recent attention helped Congress prioritize it.
The Trump administration has taken steps to address opioid addiction, mostly outside of the emergency declaration, including issuing new guidance for states trying to expand access to inpatient treatment and to advance research into non-opioid pain management. The Food and Drug Administration also approved a new 30-day injectable treatment for addiction, and the National Institutes of Health is working with the pharmaceutical industry to come up with new pain treatments. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently launched an awareness campaign warning about the risks of addiction.
The federal government doled out roughly $1 billion to states last year to combat opioid abuse, and about half of that was authorized by Congress under former President Barack Obama.
State health officials and policy experts say billions of dollars in new funding are needed to make a dent in the crisis. The Public Health Emergency Fund, which HHS could tap under the Trump declaration, has a balance of just $57,000, and the administration hasn’t proposed replenishing it. Rather than asking for new money, the administration can move funds around in existing agency budgets — but that just means taking money away from other health programs.
“The unfortunate part is that the declaration conveyed to the public that something was being done, when nothing is actually being done,” said former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, a longtime advocate for addiction treatment who served on Trump’s opioid advisory commission.
The White House official said the administration is "actively in discussion with Congress" about funding for the crisis.
The emergency declaration also allowed the Labor Department to issue grants to help dislocated workers related to the opioid epidemic, but none have been issued so far, according to a department spokesperson.
Unlike a national emergency declared under the Stafford Act, which is open-ended and overseen by the Homeland Security Department, a public health emergency is finite and comes under HHS. More than a dozen were declared last year alone for California wildfires, the Zika virus, and hurricanes in multiple states.
Trump campaigned on combating the opioid epidemic and carried hard-hit rural areas by large margins. He put an ally, outgoing New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, in charge of an opioids advisory commission, which strongly recommended declaring an emergency. He also tapped his senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway, to coordinate White House efforts, which she continues to do.
He has yet to nominate a director for the Office of National Drug Control Policy, a White House agency that typically coordinates federal strategy on addiction. HHS has been without a permanent secretary since Tom Price resigned over his taxpayer-funded charter flights. Trump’s pick to replace him, Alex Azar, is likely to be confirmed soon, maybe later this month.
One of the most significant recent initiatives — allowing states to lift a Medicaid restriction on payments for inpatient substance abuse treatment at certain facilities — has been touted as a major initiative by the Trump administration, but it actually began under the Obama administration. Other measures the Trump administration has discussed, such as allowing doctors to prescribe anti-addiction medicine via telemedicine, haven’t yet developed.
"I do not pay attention to the emergency declarations; my focus is on what has followed," said Mark Parrino, president of the American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence. "The president said we’re going to have a massive media campaign. ... Where is it?"
Congress approved bipartisan legislation in 2016 that authorized $1 billion over two years for opioid crisis response grants to states, which was signed into law by Obama. The first $500 million was doled out last year. The rest is being held up in a larger fight over a bill to fund the government, but it is eventually expected to be appropriated and distributed to states. And other money that Trump has touted comes from the CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — agencies whose budgets were kept mostly flat under the 2017 spending bill and would have been cut in Trump’s budget proposal for 2018.
Still, a HARVARD/POLITICO poll found more Americans approve of Trump's handling of the crisis than disapproved. But it and other recent surveys also found that the public regarded opioids as a problem, but not a full-fledged national emergency.
The administration has emphasized a law-and-order approach, cracking down on drug offenses and trying to cut the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Attorney General Jeff Sessions recently challenged states that have voted to legalize marijuana.
Trump's health department has routinely touted its "five-point" strategy to combat the opioid crisis: prevention, treatment and recovery; expanding access to the overdose reversal drug naloxone; improving data about the scope of the crisis; and supporting research on pain and how it is managed.
Nevertheless, Eric Hargan, the acting HHS secretary, said in November that the president was leaving it to Congress to decide whether more money should be appropriated. Democrats argued hypocrisy.
The administration has also proposed loosening privacy restrictions so it’s easier to notify a family about a loved one’s overdose, and CDC launched a new media campaign on the risks of addiction. Many of these initiatives, too, began before the emergency declaration.
“We have yet to see the president take the serious actions this emergency demands and that he promised on the campaign trail,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said during a Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing Tuesday on the opioid crisis. “Our communities are crying out for serious solutions, not stunts.”
Although congressional appropriators have not committed to new funding, two health committees have held hearings and are in the early stages of considering major legislation this year. HELP Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) has said that he expects Congress to appropriate new money but would not predict when or how much.
“It’s surprising, given all the talk and the splash, that neither Congress nor the administration has really given this the energy it needs,” said Michael Fraser, executive director of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. “It’s disappointing.”
-
Settlement Aspirations Enter The Opioid MDL
Jan 10, 2018 | Law360
By Adam Fleischer and Kevin Harris
It has been just short of a year since the worst drug crisis in American history spread from the streets and the morgues of American cities, and infected courtroom dockets, where over 150 state and local governments, hospitals and labor unions have sued pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars spent to date addressing the opioid epidemic.
As of yesterday, two freight trains driving the opioid litigation appear on a collision course. The first engine is in the form of journalistic investigations that have recently revealed a wealth of information as to what the pharmaceutical industry knew about the allegedly fraudulent marketing of prescription opioids and when they knew it. As this train picks up speed, so too does the second engine driving these lawsuits, which is the multidistrict litigation formed last month in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Judge Dan Aaron Polster made clear at a Jan. 9, 2018 hearing that he plans to push the matter as diligently as he can toward a global resolution in 2018.
What They Knew, And When They Knew It
Judge Polster left no uncertainty when he commented to the litigants last month that “[q]uite frankly, I think the best use of my time and my abilities will be to help see if there is some sort of resolution we can reach. ... I think I was picked for that reason, and that’s where I am going to spend my time.” Typically, such settlement aspirations are impossible to pursue without a foundation of detailed discovery. However, here the story of what was known and when may find its foundation not through discovery, but through the recently flexed investigative power of the press.
For example, a Dec. 17, 2017 report by the Washington Post revealed that two years of government investigation by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was sucked down the drain just as the DEA prepared to demonstrate that the nation’s largest drug distributor, McKesson Corporation, had turned a knowingly blind eye toward suspicious orders of opioids from California to Florida. According to the report, the DEA was preparing to pursue a $1 billion fine and criminal charges against McKesson, when McKesson struck a deal with the DEA in 2017 to drop the investigation in exchange for a $150 million fine. This was on top of a $13.25 million fine related to opioid distribution that had been paid in 2008. Significantly, the facts and allegations garnered by the DEA trace the legal theories pending against the distributors in the MDL.
The DEA investigation detailed by the Washington Post may indeed provide the type of information needed to move settlement talks forward in the MDL. In fact, one of the DEA managers who helped gather the evidence against McKesson, Jim Geldhof, has retired from the DEA and is now consulting with the plaintiffs’ firms suing the manufacturers and distributors, including McKesson. It was with Geldof’s involvement that the DEA concluded that McKesson filled 1.6 million opioid orders from its Aurora, Colorado, warehouse between June 2008 and May 2013, but recorded only 16 as “suspicious” — thereby watching volumes of pills flow to pharmacies in remote towns that could not possibly justify such a need. The Washington Post has even claimed to have obtained governmental evidence that McKesson warehouses in Michigan and Ohio were supplying to pharmacies that then sold the opioids to criminal drug rings. What would otherwise take many years and millions of dollars in discovery battles to uncover in the MDL may come into the public sphere early and often through the journalistic investigations.
The revelations of evidence against McKesson come on the heels of an Oct. 15, 2017 report that was the result of a six-month joint investigation by 60 Minutes and The Washington Post, concluding that “the drug industry, with the help of Congress, turned the opioid epidemic into a full blown crisis” by knowingly allowing the diversion of pain pills from the distributors to illicit users in communities across the nation. By way of example, the investigation highlights the town of Kermit, West Virginia, population 392, wherein one pharmacy allegedly received over 9 million doses of hydrocodone pills over 2 years. It is against this backdrop that Judge Polster has framed his strategy in handling the MDL.
Settlement Aspirations Discussed at Jan. 9 MDL Hearing
At a hearing last month, Judge Polster has noted that, despite novel theories of liability and potential defenses to the plaintiffs’ claims, “it is [not] in anyone’s interests to have this dragging on for five or ten years[.]” Before a packed courtroom on Jan. 9, he continued his pointed effort toward early settlement by noting that roughly 150 Americans die every day and that “[m]y objective is to do something meaningful to abate this crisis and to do it in 2018.” “We don’t need briefs and we don’t need trials,” Judge Polster observed. “None of those are going to solve [the crisis] we’ve got.”
Of course, settlement of this epidemic has many complicating tentacles. For example, there looms a seemingly insurmountable burden of establishing which towns, counties, or states have suffered how much in damages, due to the actions of which manufacturers or distributors. The allocation of increased health care or police budgets to the opioid crisis is not easily demonstrated, nor is the comparative liability to be borne by illegal opioid producers, distributors and the addicts themselves. Furthermore, unlike the tobacco litigation, the rush to place blame on the pharmaceutical industry here must be balanced against the reality that the product at issue does indeed carry significant social utility when used in the proper fashion.
In addition to the uncertainty of allocation, evidence and the market share theories sure to evolve, is the reality that there are dozens of mammoth opioid suits pending in state courts, and the resolution of the MDL will need to be coordinated with the resolution of those actions in order to accomplish a truly global settlement. Judge Polster indicated a willingness to pursue just such coordination. A final complicating settlement consideration is that the courts will be forced to guard against any MDL settlement from extinguishing or impinging upon the right of individual plaintiffs to recover for the individual injuries they may claim due to their own unique circumstances.
Insurers’ Role in Settlement Talks?
While Judge Polster flexed his admirable determination to an MDL settlement up the hill in 2018, counsel for one of the manufacturers noted that one challenge will be “making sure that the right folks are at the table, and maybe many of them are not in this room.” In that respect, one important class of stakeholders who may be unceremoniously invited into the MDL discussions are the insurers of the pharmaceutical industry. However, for insurers of the pharmaceutical industry, their coverage for the types of claims at issue is far from certain.
For example, the same allegations that plaintiffs have made about the pharmaceutical industry’s knowingly fraudulent conduct that allegedly justifies large settlement figures, are also likely to give rise to multiple coverage defenses for insurers. In fact, liability insurers are not likely to accept the idea of funding a settlement for the reimbursement of economic harm, the disgorgement of profits, harm previously known or expected, or the cost of instituting injunctive relief, all of which are not typically insurable damages. Thus, while it is clear that Judge Polster intends to push the MDL toward settlement, the process and the pockets that this will involve are not yet identifiable. -
Federal judge calls for quick resolution to 200+ opioids lawsuits
Jan 10, 2018 | Becker's Hospital Review
By Brian Zimmerman
A federal judge is overseeing the consolidation of more than 200 opioid lawsuits filed by counties, states and hospitals, among other entities, against drugmakers and distributors. The judge on Tuesday called for attorneys representing both sides to achieve a swift resolution that beneficially targets the opioid crisis, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
The lawsuits collectively allege drugmakers and drug distributors engaged in deceptive marketing tactics to promote the widespread use of opioids, thereby facilitating the nation's opioid addiction and overdose crisis. The suits seek to recoup funds expended by these entities responding to the crisis.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster on Tuesday urged attorneys for both plaintiffs and defendants to reach an agreement that doesn't simply focus on monetary payment, but also takes steps to address the ongoing crisis. A quick resolution would avoid a lengthy legal battle, which would delay any positive influence the lawsuits' resolution could have on the crisis.
"I don't think anyone in the country is interested in a whole lot of finger pointing at this point, and I'm not either," Mr. Polster said Tuesday at a Cleveland courthouse, according to WSJ. "In my humble opinion, everyone shares some of the responsibility, and no one has done enough to abate it … We don't need briefs, and we don't need trials … None of those are going to solve what we've got."
Similar lawsuits filed in recent years demonstrate how difficult resolution can be to achieve in such cases. In 2014, California's Orange and Santa Clara counties filed opioid lawsuits against multiple drugmakers, including Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and Endo International. While Teva agreed to pay $1.6 million last year as a part of a pending agreement, the other defendants continue to push for the suit's dismal, according to WSJ.
-
Federal Judge Urges Opioid Lawsuit Defendants to Quickly Settle Claims
Jan 10, 2018 | USA Herald
By Robin Bull
We have an update for you about the monumental federal lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies that manufactured and promoted the use of opioids. It’s no secret that America is in the grips of an opioid addiction crisis. Once people become addicted to opioids, they face a higher risk of turning to heroin. A study by the NIH found that almost 90% of all heroin users started out with legitimate prescriptions for opioids.Federal Judge Urges Defendants to Quickly Settle Claims Made
In one of more than 180 federal lawsuits pending against opioid manufacturers and the companies that market them to medical professionals, U.S. District Judge Dan Polster urged both the defendants and the plaintiffs that are representative of city, town, and state governments to quickly begin the settlement process. Judge Polster mentioned that life expectancy for United States citizens has declined for the last three years and that this decline was “100 percent manmade.”Governments Claim Pharmaceutical Companies Engaged in Bad Marketing Practices
The opioid lawsuits filed by city, town, and state governments allege that the pharmaceutical companies that make and market opioids used bad marketing practices that ultimately resulted in the addiction crisis now happening in the United States. The lawsuits filed by government entities ask the courts to order the drug companies to reimburse the states for the money spent fighting opioid addiction; addiction treatment; overdose treatments provided by law enforcement, hospitals, and emergency medical personnel; the costs incurred by the agencies because of absences of their employees because of addiction; the costs incurred by the agencies for the healthcare costs related to employees struggling with addiction; and costs associated with homelessness and foster care that resulted from opioid addiction.
The governments are asking the court to award them with hundreds of billions of dollars in damages.Did Pharmaceutical Companies Lie to Doctors about the Safety of Opioids?
The government seems to be taking a page from its own playbook when it took on Big Tobacco in the mid-90s. Big Tobacco was accused of promoting cigarettes and other tobacco products without really explaining just how dangerous their products are. Eventually, a Master Settlement Agreement was put into place. Yet, despite the new warnings and the money poured into smoking cessation and prevention programs, the smoking rate is still around 40% with individuals who have no more than a high school education according to the CDC.
Yet, doctors were the ones targeted by pharmaceutical companies for opioid marketing. Although Janssen Pharmaceuticals stated that they acted in a way that they believed was “in the best interest of patients,” doctors generally relied on information that they believed downplayed the risk of addiction. In fact, doctors were told in the 1980s and 1990s that opioids were safe and presented little risk for addiction.
Unless the pharmaceutical companies opt to settle, the court will make the decision as to whether the companies lied and are at least partially responsible for the opioid crisis. Much like other lawsuits where plaintiffs claim a drug was dangerous and harmed them, it’s possible that people would have made a different choice or asked more questions had they been presented with information related to addiction and opioid use. Perhaps doctors wouldn’t have prescribed them as liberally…and maybe we wouldn’t lose 46 people each day to overdoses.
-
Judge: CN courts can’t hear opioids case
Jan 11, 2018 | Cherokee Phoenix (OK)
By Will Chavez
U.S. District Judge Terence Kern on Jan. 9 ruled that the Cherokee Nation’s lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies and distributors cannot be heard in the tribe’s District Court.
The CN filed the suit in April alleging that six companies are failing to prevent the flow of illegally prescribed opioids to CN citizens within the tribe’s jurisdiction in northeast Oklahoma.
The tribe accused the McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen, CVS Health, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of “perpetuating” a prescription opioid abuse epidemic within the counties that comprise the CN.
Lawyers for the companies in June filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma to determine whether the tribe’s courts have jurisdiction in the case.
The companies’ motion states that CN courts have no jurisdiction over the businesses and asks the federal court to dismiss the case.
“None of plaintiffs here are tribal members or tribal corporations. Moreover, none of plaintiffs’ conduct at issue occurred in Indian Country,” the motion states. “As domestic dependent quasi-sovereign nations, the jurisdiction of Indian tribes over non-Indians is strictly limited.”
On Jan. 9, Kern ruled for the companies by stating the tribe’s courts do not have jurisdiction.
“This proceeding concerns a lawsuit by the Cherokee Nation against a number of opioid distributors and pharmacies. However, the question before the Court is not the merits of the Cherokee Nation’s lawsuit but rather the boundaries of tribal court jurisdiction,” states Kern’s ruling. “The Attorney General of the Cherokee Nation has filed suit not in state court but in the tribal district court of the Cherokee Nation. Do the tribal courts of the Cherokee Nation have jurisdiction over this particular action? The Court finds they do not.”
Following the ruling, Hembree said the CN would keep fighting in state court to hold the companies accountable.
“We continue to believe in our case, and we are prepared to fight to hold these companies accountable in state court. The opioid crisis in the Cherokee Nation was fueled by the defendants’ decision to prioritize profits over the well-being of Cherokee citizens,” he said. “In 2015 and 2016 alone, distributors shipped and pharmacies dispensed 184 million opioid pain pills in the 14 counties in northeast Oklahoma that comprise the Cherokee Nation – or 153 doses for every man, woman and child. The defendants knowingly turned a blind eye to the harm they caused and have not changed their conduct, but this cycle ends now. We are confident in the case we’ve prepared and look forward to quickly re-filing our lawsuit.”
In his ruling, Kern wrote that it’s “undisputed” the country is in an opioid crisis.
“Drug overdose deaths and opioid-involved deaths continue to increase in the United States, and the President of the United States has declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency,” he states. “The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that from 2000 to 2016, more than half a million people died from drug overdoses. The majority of these drug overdose deaths (more than six out of 10) involved an opioid and 40 percent of all U.S. opioid overdose deaths involve a prescription opioid. Ninety-one Americans die every day from an opioid overdose.”
However, his ruling states because the tribal court “clearly lacks jurisdiction” further proceedings there “would serve no purpose other than delay” and would “impose a substantial burden on the six companies.
“Accordingly, plaintiffs (six companies) have met their burden to show irreparable injury to justify a preliminary injunction,” states the ruling.
In April, AmerisourceBergen released a statement claiming it stops the shipment of (drug) orders it believes are suspicious. “The issue of opioid abuse is a complex one that spans the full health care spectrum, including manufacturers, wholesalers, insurers, prescribers, pharmacists and regulatory and enforcement agencies.”
Cardinal Health said in a statement that it will defend itself against the allegations and believes the lawsuit does not advance “the hard work needed to solve the opioid abuse crisis – an epidemic driven by addiction, demand and the diversion of medications for illegitimate use.”
CVS Health said it has stringent policies and procedures to determine whether a controlled substance prescription was issued for a legitimate medical purpose before a pharmacist fills it. Walgreens said it does not comment on pending litigation, and Wal-Mart did not comment. -
State wins round in lawsuit vs. opioid drug makers
Jan 10, 2018 | New Hampshire Union Leader (NH)
By Kevin Landrigan
A federal judge agreed Tuesday to move back to a state court New Hampshire’s lawsuit charging prescription pain pill maker Purdue Pharma with deceptively marketing OxyContin and other medications that led patients to get hooked on heroin and synthetic opioids.
The state filed the lawsuit last August in state court seeking a ruling that would compel the Connecticut-based manufacturer to pay the state restitution, damages and fines of $10,000 a day for each violation of the state Consumer Protection Act.
In response, lawyers for Purdue Pharma removed the case to the federal court, maintaining the Class Action Fairness Act gave proper jurisdiction of this matter to the U.S. District Court.
But state prosecutors challenged that transfer and Tuesday’s ruling from Judge Paul Barbadaro is a win for the state as it sends the case back to Merrimack County Superior Court in Concord.
“When the state sues to protect its citizens from such ongoing injuries, it is not acting merely as a member of a class of injured persons seeking to obtain compensation on behalf of others,” Barbadoro wrote in his 11-page ruling.
“It is acting in a sovereign capacity to protect its citizens.”
The drug company tried to prevent the state from hiring a Washington, D.C., law firm to assist it in bringing this case against Purdue Pharma. That argument went all the way to the state Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the attorney general.
Gordon J. MacDonald, the state’s attorney general, directed his deputy to head up prosecution because prior to taking his current position, MacDonald represented Purdue Pharma in defending against this lawsuit.
“Opioid addiction costs the lives of hundreds of the state’s citizens each year,” Barbadoro summed up. “It has flooded the state’s prisons, demanded a vast commitment of law enforcement resources, and strained the capacity of the state’s first responders. Deaths from overdoses continue to occur at an alarming rate.” -
Insurance Coverage for Opioid Lawsuits & Investigations
Jan 10, 2018 | The National Law Review
By Covington and Burlington Health Care Practice
Dozens of pharmaceutical manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and retailers have been named as defendants in opioid-related lawsuits, investigations, and congressional inquiries across the country. These actions and investigations include allegations that defendants misleadingly marketed opioids, failed to comply with regulatory requirements to report suspicious orders of opioids, and improperly filled fraudulent prescriptions for opioids. Some of these companies and their directors and officers are also targets of securities class action and shareholder derivative lawsuits related to the companies’ marketing, sale, distribution, and dispensing of opioid painkillers. Defendants are disputing these allegations and mounting a vigorous defense.
As outlined below, several types of insurance policies potentially cover defense costs as well as the costs of any ultimate liability in these opioid-related claims.
General Liability Policies. Opioid-related claims may well be covered under commercial general liability (“CGL”) policies. CGL policies typically insure “sums that the insured becomes legally obligated to pay as damages because of bodily injury or property damage” caused by an “accident.” Importantly, CGL insurers generally are obligated to fund an insured’s defense where the allegations against the insured are partially or even potentially within the scope of coverage, regardless of whether any final settlement or judgment is covered.
Several recent court decisions concerning insurance coverage for opioid lawsuits provide a preview of coverage defenses that insurers may raise, as well as counterarguments policyholders may make. These include: Injury caused by an “accident.” In several cases, insurers have argued that the conduct and harms alleged in the opioid lawsuits result from intentional acts on the part of defendants—not “accidents.” Most courts addressing these arguments have recognized that the opioid lawsuits allege, or at least potentially involve, negligent conduct, which is sufficient to trigger an insurer’s duty to defend the suits. At least one court, however, has held that the allegations against pharmaceutical manufacturers in two early lawsuits could only be read to allege intentional conduct and thus did not trigger coverage. That decision was upheld on appeal, but the policyholder has recently petitioned the Supreme Court of California for review.Damages because of “bodily injury.” The majority of opioid lawsuits to date have been initiated by states, counties, and cities. Those lawsuits seek to recover increased costs the states and municipalities allegedly have incurred as a result of opioid addiction—e.g., costs associated with diagnosis and treatment of opioid addiction and overdose, increased law enforcement and police operations, and higher demands on hospitals, emergency rooms, and prisons. Insurers have argued that the state and municipal plaintiffs do not seek damages “because of bodily injury,” but rather seek damages solely for harms. The small number of decisions from courts on this issue have not been consistent—some have favored the policyholder, others have favored the insurer. The only appellate court to have reached the issue to date, however, sided with the policyholder, holding that the insurer was obliged to defend a wholesale distributor against a suit brought by West Virginia because the state sought reimbursement for damages incurred, at least in part, because of bodily injury to its residents.Other exclusions. Some CGL policies have additional terms that insurers may contend exclude coverage for opioid-related lawsuits. For example, a few recent court decisions considered CGL policies that expressly excluded coverage for bodily injuries arising out of the policyholder’s products and/or representations about its products. Exclusions such as these—present in some but not all policies—highlight the need for policyholders to review carefully the language in their insurance contracts, both when purchasing coverage and at the point of claim.
Professional Liability/Errors & Omissions Policies. Errors & Omissions (“E&O”) policies tend to have broad coverage grants that potentially respond to opioid lawsuits and investigations. E&O policies typically cover losses a policyholder incurs as a result of a claim made against it for an “actual or alleged act, error, misstatement, misleading statement, omission, neglect, or breach of duty.” Some E&O policies limit coverage to claims where the insured’s alleged act or omission was committed “solely in the performance of or the failure to perform professional services.”
Insurers may assert defenses under E&O policies, such as:Intentional acts exclusions. The typical E&O policy will exclude claims arising out fraudulent and criminal acts or omissions, and willful violations of the law. Insurers may invoke such exclusions where policyholders are alleged to have intentionally engaged in misleading promotion of opioids, or knowingly shipped suspicious orders or filled forged prescriptions. The precise wording of these exclusions varies from policy to policy, with some written more favorably for policyholders than others. For example, many E&O policies do not preclude coverage unless a “final adjudication” in the underlying proceeding establishes that the policyholder engaged in “deliberately fraudulent or deliberately criminal” conduct.Restitution/disgorgement/illegal profits. E&O policies often purport to exclude damages in the form of restitution or disgorgement for unjust enrichment, or where the policyholder gained profit or advantage to which it was not entitled. Many of the opioid lawsuits include counts alleging unjust enrichment or seeking restitutionary-type damages. However, even where an E&O insurer says it does not cover such damages, the policy may still provide coverage for other claimed damages as well as for defense costs and settlement payments. As is the case generally, the scope and flexibility of E&O coverage will be dictated by the precise language of these policy provisions.Civil and criminal fines/penalties. In the case of defendants that are alleged to have violated statutes or regulations carrying civil penalties or fines, insurers may cite provisions in some (but not all) E&O policies that purport to exempt these types of losses from coverage. Even policies that insurers say do not cover fines or penalties may nevertheless still insure the cost of defending such claims or fund settlements resolving allegations of statutory and regulatory violations.Bodily injury exclusion. E&O policies may say they do not cover claims “arising out of bodily injury.” To the extent a policyholder facing opioid liabilities is insured under both CGL and E&O lines of insurance, it needs to understand the interrelationship and any overlap between multiple lines of coverage to ensure that it is getting the full value of the insurance that it purchased.
Management Liability/Director’s & Officer’s Liability Policies. As with E&O policies, the coverage grant under Director’s and Officer’s Liability (“D&O”) policies, particularly coverage for individual insureds, is broad and potentially covers defendants facing opioid-related shareholder class actions, derivative suits, and government inquiries and investigations.
D&O policyholders may face many of the coverage defenses highlighted above: intentional acts exclusions; carve-outs for restitution, disgorgement, illegal profits, fines, and penalties; and exclusions for bodily injury. Two additional issues potentially affect the extent of recovery for opioid-related losses under a D&O policy:Limited entity coverage. Although D&O policies frequently offer broad coverage for claims against individual directors and executives (and sometimes other employees), so-called entity coverage for the company itself is limited under some policy forms to shareholder suits or other claims alleging violation of securities laws. Other forms may extend entity coverage (with or without separate sublimits or retentions) to derivative investigation costs, costs of defending derivative suits, or specified types of government investigations or proceedings. The exact scope of entity coverage varies widely among different D&O forms. For example, some provide no coverage for the costs of responding to regulatory investigations, while others cover specified forms of information requests; some only cover proceedings before specified securities regulators, while others cover governmental proceedings more broadly. Policyholders must scrutinize their D&O policies for potential application to opioid-related lawsuits, investigations, subpoenas, requests for testimony, and other government inquiries.Professional services exclusion. Some D&O policies purport to exclude claims involving the performance by an insured of “professional services.” The scope and interpretation of such exclusions varies widely: they may be confined to the so-called learned professions of law and medicine, or they may encompass any “activity done for remuneration.” Again, policyholders should be mindful to advance coordinated coverage positions on issues such as “professional services” under their CGL, E&O, and D&O lines in order to avoid gaps in coverage.
Specialized Insurance Lines: Pharmaceutical, Life Sciences, and Product Liability Policies. Policyholders operating in the pharmaceutical industry may have purchased specialized insurance products tailored to their business, such as policies written specifically for liabilities arising out of their products and advertisements/representations made about their products. Assessments of the potential for coverage under these specialized products will necessarily depend on the particulars of the policy, but one or more of the potential issues outlined in the above discussions could arise under a specialized product liability policy.
Practical Tips for Policyholders. In addition to carefully reviewing all potentially responsive insurance policies, policyholders should keep in mind the following:Timely notice. Most insurance policies require prompt notice to the insurer. The policy language should be consulted for the details.Consider current and prior policies. When reporting actual or potential claims to an insurer, policyholders should remember policies issued in prior years that may respond to current and future opioid-related suits and investigations. Some policies (often E&O, D&O, but Insurance Recovery 4 also CGL and Bermuda Form variants) respond to claims made against the policyholder during the policy period. Other policies insure a policyholder for injuries that occurred during the policy period, even if the policyholder is not sued for those injuries until years later. To the extent the harms alleged in an opioid lawsuit allegedly took place in prior policy periods, policyholders should investigate what coverage they purchased during those periods and consider notifying the claims under those earlier policies.Cooperation obligations. Liability policies may have conditions purporting to require policyholders to cooperate with their insurers in the defense and investigation of claims. Policyholders should be careful to avoid waiving attorney-client privilege or work product protections when performing their cooperation duties. Insurance-specific confidentiality agreements and careful attention to what and how information is shared can help mitigate the risks of waiver in the disclosures necessary to cooperate with their insurers.Consent obligations. Insurance policies may purport to require insurers’ consent when policyholders retain defense counsel, incur defense expenses, or negotiate or enter into a settlement. Some policies do not impose consent obligations until the loss has exceeded the policy retention: that is, for defense costs or settlements within the retention amount, the policyholder may not need the insurer’s consent. Policyholders can sometimes find themselves facing intransigent insurers when views diverge on the appropriate defense and settlement strategy. Coverage counsel can help navigate these potential risks to help ensure policyholders get the full benefit of their insurance.Track defense costs. In many cases, insurance may cover the costs of defending opioid actions and/or may be used to satisfy any applicable self-insured retention or deductible. In situations where the insurer has a duty to reimburse defense costs, policyholders should put in place a system for tracking the defense costs incurred that are covered by insurance. Policyholders submitting defense invoices to insurers for reimbursement should be aware that, because defense invoices typically contain defense counsel’s descriptions of services provided, waiver of privilege issues may arise in the event of conflicts with the insurer. Again, an insurance-specific confidentiality agreement between the policyholder and insurer can help mitigate this risk.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | NWS14 (Spectrum News)
By Charlotte, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872664?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript:mecklenburg couunty commissioners are considering suing drug manufacturers... they believe the manufacturers are partly responsible for opioid epidemic... but former opioid epidemic... but former district attorney john snyder is questioning the plan. john snyder, legal analyst "but i'm not sure that th county will be as successful as they'd like to be in showing the link betwen the makers of the medicine and those that are suffering from the adiction"
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WCNC (NBC)
By Charlotte, NC
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873083?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: the governor has requested $4 million for opioid treatment centers and wants to hire for narcotics officers >>> the county is planning to sue some of the biggest drug manufacturers. they have hired a law firm, but has not filed a lawsuit yet. the companies have caused a lot of harm and the lawsuit won't cost the taxpayers a thing we're told
-
Jan 11, 2018 | KOCO (ABC)
By Oklahoma City, OK
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873048?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: the state of oklahoma has filed a lawsuit saying many drug companies misrepresented the risks of opioid addiction and they wanted to increase their opioid sales. the event says the fda directed companies to market their opioids in that way.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | KOKH (FOX)
By Oklahoma City, OK
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873072?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: happening today a judge could set a trial date for the attorney general's lawsuit against several opioid manufacturers. there is a hearing in cleveland county that will happen in a few hours so if the judge sets the date, oklahoma would be the first in the nation to schedule a trial for an opioid lawsuit. "good day ok" told y attorney general mike hunter filed the lawsuit in june an he claims they knowingly marketed drugs as safe while down playing the risks of opioid addictions. the companies tried but were not able to get the case thrown out.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WJHG (NBC)
By Panama City, FL
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873078?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: washington county commissioners may follow suit so to speak... and join other cities and counties in the fight against opioids. the board was approached by a couple of law firms in december about joining a lawsuit against big pharma manufacturers and distributors. the firms have also approached other local city and county governments... including bay county. if they do collect, commissioners say they would use the money to help pay for citizens' treatment. "this is not something that's going to be a bandaid pulled off tomorrow and receive a check. this is four or five years down the road, but i want to tell the people of washington county that if this comes to fruition, help is on the way." commissioners will discuss the lawsuit at the january workshop and then vote on a law firm at the january meeting. the franklin county sheriff's office is about to launch an anti-meth campaign to show residents they're not messing around when it comes to the dangerous drug.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WVLA (NBC)
By Baton Rouge, LA
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873088?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: state.jeff landry: louisiana attorney general: "the opioid epidemic knows no boundaries. it doesn't matter whether you are rich or poor or white or black or hispanic whether you have a college education or not. whether you have a professional degree or are a blue collar worker, this epidemic is absolutely killing americans."he says, the opioid epidemic country is even greater in the capital city.landry: "baton rouge ranks 23 nationally in percentage of citizens abusing opioids, ranks 7th nationally in opioid prescription abuse."his other main agenda item? violent crime rates, something he says opioid abuse plays a role in. "the second thing i want to talk about is violent crime because this opioidepidemic is absolutely contributing to violent crime in this country." he hopes to tackle both by continuing to go after opioid manufacturers, educating the public and promoting drug take back boxes.also, not included in his speech,
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WBAL (NBC)
By Baltimore, MD
VIDEO LINK: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873139?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: another county in our area is suing opioid drug manufactures as overdoses continue to rise across the area.harford county will join other counties in a lawsuit against distributors. the county is planning to open a new treatment facility...among other efforts to fight the drug crisis.to help with funding, county executive barry glassman says he will join the lawsuit. baltimore, anne arundel, and montgomery counties also plan to sue prescripon drug companies.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WBFF (Fox)
By Baltimore, MD
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873043?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: another county in our area is suing opioid drug manufactures as overdoses continue to rise across the area.harford county will join other counties in a lawsuit against distributors. the county is planning to open a new treatment facility...among other efforts to fight the drug crisis.to help with funding, county executive barry glassman says he will join the lawsuit. baltimore, anne arundel, and montgomery counties also plan to sue prescription drug companies.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WSMH (FOX)
By Flint, MI
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31873025?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: several northern michigan counties joining a class action lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies claiming they cause the opioid crisis. the lawsuit alleges pharmaceutical retailers, manufacturers and distributors didn't control their opioids causing the epidemic to spiral out of control. the lawsuit was filed last month 19 communities including saginaw and genesee counties as plaintiffs. that includes crawford, mason, manistee, roscommon, marquette.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | KFJX (FOX)
By Joplin, MO
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872675?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: jasper county joining other misouri counties in prescription drug monitoring, they're now joining a lawsuit. they've decided to team up with a group of st. louis atorneys in a lawsuit against 11 opioid manufacturers. county comissioner john bartosh hopes that the lawsuit will force manufacturers to provide doctors with acurate information, concerning the drugs adictiveness and the viable uses. >> they say it's thot addictive, they say thot to use it with certain things. they say it's okay, we just do that for safety. > one of the attorneys in the case says that the lawsuit will probably be filed by the end of next month.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | WLOV (FOX)
By Columbus, MS
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872671?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: just as mississippi joined the fight against big tobacco in the nineties, the magnolia state is now taking the lead to combat opioid makers. as of now, three north mississippi counties are suing drug companies over the opioid just as mississippi joined the fight against big tobacco in 9:33 AMthe nineties, the magnolia state is now taking the lead to combat opioid makers. as of now, three north mississippi counties are suing drug companies over the opioid epidemic. benton, tippah and union counties all filed lawsuits in the u- s. district court in oxford. the lawsuits accuses drug companies of promoting usage as well as misleading doctors on just how addictive they were. the lawsuit wants the companies to halt production of the drugs and pay the government for monies spent related to them. the legal papers were filed monday in u. s. district court in oxford and became public wednesday. but this lawsuit is not the first one to come out of the magnolia state. the clarion ledger reports last month that southwest mississippi regional medical center in mccomb and two alabama hospitals filed a 135 page lawsuit as well. their lawsuit details how purdue phrama -- who produces oxycontin -- claims the company deceptively marketed and sold the drug. purdue has since denied the allegations and says it is working to solve the public health crisis. katrina, the likeliness of a person using opioids ayear after receiving a prescription increases from 13 point five percent after a week to 30 percent after a month. so far in 2017, at least 220 mississippians have died from overdoes mostly from opioid . at the end of 2016, there were 211 confirmed opioid overdose deaths by m-b-n. the mississippi bureau of narcotics adds for the past three years there were 486 reported drug overdoses in the state and of those, 394 were opioid related.
-
Jan 11, 2018 | KRXI (Fox)
By Reno, NV
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/31872653?token=556402e5-5f79-417d-88e8-597aa0102fff
Rough Transcript: the reno city council is continuing its plan to help fight the gring opioid issue in northern nevada. the law firm egglet price has been select as special counsel representative which will partner with the city of reno for opioid litigation against prescription drug companies. the possible litigation aims at recovering money due to the negative impacts of opioids on the city of reno and its resources. according to the d.e.a., was ranked the sixth highest state in 2016 when it comes to the number of miligrams of opioids distributed per adult.
Southeast (NC, MS, FL, TN, AL)
Midwest (MO, MI, WI, OH, MN)
Southwest (OK, NV, TX)
Northeast (MA)
Commentary and FYIs
Broadcast Media Coverage
Add recipients
Suggested