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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 1/17/18
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NY Counties in State Opioid Litigation Allowed Discovery
Jan 16, 2018 | New York Law Journal (NY)
By Andrew Denney
Attorneys for a group of New York counties that are suing opioid manufacturers and distributors in state court are being allowed to proceed with discovery despite a pending motion to dismiss filed by the defendants, which plaintiffs say will help them fight opioid abuse while the case moves forward. -
The Health 202: Some Republicans blame Medicaid for opioid epidemic
Jan 17, 2018 | Washington Post
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
Senate Republicans will push a new line of attack on the Medicaid program at a hearing Wednesday morning: that expanding the federal insurance program for low-income Americans has contributed to the country's opioid overdose epidemic. -
Federal opiates case offers hope for answers, remedies (EDITORIAL)
Jan 17, 2018 | The Vindicator (OH)
By Staff
Over the course of at least the next several months, the eyes of a nation plagued by an odious opiate epidemic will focus squarely on a federal courthouse in downtown Cleveland. -
Opioid Crisis Blamed For Sharp Increase In Accidental Deaths In U.S.
Jan 17, 2018 | NPR
By Scott Neuman
Accidental deaths in the United States rose significantly in 2016, becoming the third-leading cause of fatalities for the first time in more than a century – a trend fueled by the steep rise in opioid overdoses, the National Safety Council reports. -
Wal-Mart launches program to safely dispose of unused opioids
Jan 17, 2018 | Reuters
By Staff
Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Wednesday said it will provide customers filling prescriptions for opioids with a packet of powder that will help them dispose of leftover medication in order to help curb misuse and abuse. -
Cuomo pushes state tax reform, payroll tax in 2019 budget
Jan 16, 2018 | Hudson Valley 260 (NY)
By Richard Moody
Gov. Andrew Cuomo used his Executive Budget speech to rail against the new federal tax reform law, making it the focus of his proposed $164 billion state spending plan and proposing the state enact its own tax system overhaul to avoid the effects of the federal law. -
Champaign County sues drugmakers, 3 doctors over opioid risks
Jan 17, 2018 | The News Gazette (IL)
By Tom Kacich
A Champaign law firm has filed suit on behalf of the state of Illinois and Champaign County against a handful of drug companies, asserting that they knew that the painkilling pharmaceuticals they manufactured misled "consumers and medical suppliers through misrepresentations or omissions regarding the appropriate uses, risks and safety of opioids." -
Rockford hires lawyers to sue opioid manufacturers, distributors
Jan 16, 2018 | Rockford Register Star (IL)
By Jeff Kolkley
Aldermen on Tuesday night agreed to hire the law firm of Goldenberg, Heller and Antognoli to represent Rockford in a planned joint lawsuit with Winnebago County against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors. -
Juneau County joins suit against drug companies
Jan 16, 2018 | Wisc News (WI)
By Jake Ekdahl
Communities impacted by the opioid epidemic may soon have hope of compensation in a new lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. -
County plans to suing opioid manufacturers, distributors
Jan 16, 2018 | Dundalk Eagle (MD)
By Charlene Mayo
Due to the increasingly high rate of drug use and substance-related deaths, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced on Jan. 8 that Baltimore County will file a lawsuit in federal court against a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers and opioid distributors. -
Carolina in the Morning
Jan 17, 2018 | WSFX (Fox)
By Wilmington, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32105143?token=087309ec-acc9-49fb-816c-d0bb1c942dd3 -
FOX8 News at 6:00A
Jan 17, 2018 | WGHP (FOX)
By Greensboro, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32105149?token=087309ec-acc9-49fb-816c-d0bb1c942dd3
Commentary and FYIs
Midwest (IL, WI)
Northeast (MD)
Broadcast Media Coverage
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NY Counties in State Opioid Litigation Allowed Discovery
Jan 16, 2018 | New York Law Journal (NY)
By Andrew Denney
Attorneys for a group of New York counties that are suing opioid manufacturers and distributors in state court are being allowed to proceed with discovery despite a pending motion to dismiss filed by the defendants, which plaintiffs say will help them fight opioid abuse while the case moves forward.
In New York, discovery is automatically stayed while a motion to dismiss is pending, but Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Jerry Garguilo took theuncommon step of allowing discovery to proceed while the defendants’ motions to dismiss are set to proceed to oral arguments.
Plaintiffs are taking on opioid manufacturers and distributors on multiple fronts, with governmental units such as the state of New Jersey and the city of Seattle filing in state courts, while others have joined in federal multidistrict litigation.
In the New York case, in which several counties’ suits have been consolidated in a Suffolk County Supreme Court, the plaintiff counties seek supply-chain data on prescription opioid distribution in New York, which they say could help communities impacted by opioid abuse take swift action while the litigation progresses.
In a letter to Garguilo, plaintiffs attorney Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik argued that the requested materials are needed not only to help them prepare their case, but also that the information could “save lives” and give the counties a “much-need lifeline” to control the flow of opioids within their borders.
“The opioid crisis is getting worse and this type of information can assist plaintiffs in controlling this epidemic,” Napoli wrote.
According to the New York State Department of Health, there were 1,478 overdose deaths involving prescription opioids and fentanyl in New York, excluding the five counties located within New York City, in 2016.
Pushing back against the request, the defendants argued that the discovery request was “overbroad” and would place an unwarranted burden on the defendant.
In a letter to Garguilo asking him to deny the plaintiffs’ request, Neil Roman of Covington & Burling, which represents distributor McKesson Corp., wrote that the plaintiffs’ argument that the requested discovery materials are needed to save lives was “vague, unsupported and demonstrably false.”
In a brief order issued on Jan. 12 granting a lift of the stay, Garguilo said he concurred with U.S. District Judge Dan Polster of the Northern District of Ohio, who presides over the federal multidistrict litigation, that people are not interested in trials, discovery or “figuring out the answer to interesting legal questions like pre-emptions and learned intermediary” and that issues raised by all sides in the case should be put on a “fast track.”
In an interview, Napoli said Garguilo’s ruling was a major victory for the plaintiffs and that in his 25 years in practice, he had never seen a judge take the extra step of lifting a stay discovery with dismissal motions pending.
“It’s a means to an end of this problem,” Napoli said.
The attorney for defendants in the case declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
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The Health 202: Some Republicans blame Medicaid for opioid epidemic
Jan 17, 2018 | Washington Post
By Paige Winfield Cunningham
Senate Republicans will push a new line of attack on the Medicaid program at a hearing Wednesday morning: that expanding the federal insurance program for low-income Americans has contributed to the country's opioid overdose epidemic.
It's an argument that Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chair Ron Johnson, R-Wis., began airing last summer, as the Senate worked on a health-care bill to roll back the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion and enact even deeper spending cuts to Medicaid.
"The Medicaid expansion may be fueling the opioid epidemic in communities across the country," Johnson wrote to the Health and Human Services inspector general in July. "Because opioids are so available and inexpensive through Medicaid, it appears that the program has created a perverse incentive for people to use opioids, sell them for large profits and stay hooked."
The Wisconsin Republican has invited several conservative policy wonks and officials from GOP-led states to testify about what he and some other Republicans view as these unintended consequences of Medicaid - that by enveloping more Americans in coverage, it's potentially giving them access to opioid painkillers, which they're then distributing on the streets.
Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry has advanced the same argument, per the AP's Melinda Deslatte: ."@AGJeffLandry at the BR Rotary Club criticizes Medicaid expansion as worsening opioid abuse, criminal justice overhaul as harming public safety. Hits on @LouisianaGov programs, without naming Edwards. #lalege#lagov," she tweeted on Jan. 10.
Ranking Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri plans to push back hard, according to prepared remarks shared in advance with The Health 202.
"This idea that Medicaid expansion is fueling the rise in opioid deaths is total hogwash," according to her testimony. "It is not supported by the facts. And I am concerned that this committee is using taxpayer dollars to push out this misinformation to advance a political agenda."
So, who's right here? There's little data to draw from, since Medicaid was expanded only recently under the ACA. But while conservatives have noted that overdose deaths are much higher among people inside the program than those outside it, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, they've not been able to prove Medicaid actually leads to opioid abuse.
On the contrary, as Medicaid advocates note, expanding the program to include childless adults earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level has given more Americans access to addiction treatment. The program, which provided coverage to 3 in 10 people dealing with opioid addiction in 2015, covers outpatient treatment and inpatient detoxification, among other services, for substance use disorder.
"Medicaid expansion helps address the opioid problem - it did not create it," McCaskill plans to say.
It's true that enrolling in Medicaid makes it easier for patients to see a doctor, who could then prescribe them an opioid for pain. But as with those insured under Medicare or private plans, Medicaid recipients must first obtain a prescription - they can't just go seize it off a shelf - and a provider must say it's medically necessary before Medicaid will pay for it.
When I asked Johnson's office for comment, staffers pointed me to the letter the senator sent the HHS inspector general last summer. In that letter, Johnson said he'd identified 261 people convicted of using their Medicaid cards to obtain opioids and then reselling the drugs at "enormous profit."
Johnson also pointed to HHS data showing drug overdose deaths rose twice as fast per 1 million people in Medicaid expansion states versus non-expansion states under the ACA. Johnson used Centers for Disease Control and census data to argue that drug overdose deaths increased 22 percent in expansion states but just 15 percent in non-expansion states between 2013 and 2015.
Since the ACA was passed in 2010, 32 states plus the District of Columbia have chosen to expand the program while the rest of the states - all of them Republican-led - have opted out. Experts told me the problem with comparing expansion states to non-expansion states is that they all have different characteristics. Some expansion states were hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis, which may have been partly why they chose to expand Medicaid to begin with.
"It's kind of like a chicken-versus-the-egg problem," the Kaiser Family Foundation's Mary Beth Musumeci said.
And here's another counterpoint: Opioid abuse began spiking in the late 1990s, well before states began expanding Medicaid. Plus, there's strong evidence that recent increases in opioid mortality stem not from prescription opioids, but from the illegal drugs fentanyl and heroin, which Medicaid doesn't pay for.
Let's assume for a moment that Republicans are right - that Medicaid is contributing to opioid abuse. But if they argue against Medicaid based on the idea that it potentially allows more patients to get prescriptions for opioids, they could use that same reasoning to oppose expansion of private health insurance.
Expanding health insurance of any variety increases people's access to health care. Much of that care is beneficial; some may not be, Katherine Baicker, dean of the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, told me.
"I don't think anybody would suggest because overprescribing of opioids poses a series health risk, people shouldn't go see the doctor," Baicker said.
Over in the House, Rep. Lynn Jenkins (R-Kan.) is also holding an opioid-focused hearing this morning at the Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee.
"More than 42 million beneficiaries rely on the program for prescription drugs, including opioids," Jenkins plans to say, according to her prepared remarks shared with The Health 202. "It is critical that Medicare, and private Part D plan sponsors have the tools they need to ensure that opioids are provided only when medically necessary."
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Federal opiates case offers hope for answers, remedies (EDITORIAL)
Jan 17, 2018 | The Vindicator (OH)
By Staff
Over the course of at least the next several months, the eyes of a nation plagued by an odious opiate epidemic will focus squarely on a federal courthouse in downtown Cleveland.
That’s where a landmark lawsuit filed by more than 200 counties and communities ravaged by record high rates of overdoses will play out.
The case, officially known as the National Prescription Opiate Multi District Litigation No. 2804, alleges that manufacturers of prescription opioids have overstated their benefits and downplayed their addictive risks while aggressively marketing them to physicians. The consolidated suit also accuses drug distributors of failing to monitor, detect, investigate and report suspicious orders of prescription opiates in violation of the federal Controlled Substances Act.
It is our hope that the case proceeds rapidly so that gnawing questions on the scope of drug manufacturers’ complicity to the epidemic can at last be more fully answered.
A thorough but expeditious resolution of the case also holds hope for the creation of new policies to more rigidly limit their distribution and to compensate U.S. communities monetarily for the enormous burdens they’ve endured in treatment, law enforcement and other costs aligned with the epidemic.
Early signs invite cautious optimism toward meeting those goals.
First, the fact that the dozens of lawsuits have been consolidated into one comprehensive package is sound. That format should help grease the wheels of justice. With hundreds of Americans dying daily from the opiate scourge, time is a precious commodity in this case.
In addition, settlement of the case theoretically could require Big Pharma to dispatch sorely needed aid to ravaged communities, including those in the Mahoning Valley and Ohio that are in the epicenter of the epidemic.
We’re also heartened that the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in Washington appointed Judge Daniel Polster of the U.S. Northern District of Ohio to oversee the case.
By all accounts, Judge Polster is tailor made for this landmark litigation. He has the experience of adjudicating other multidistrict lawsuits and has a deep-seated passion to get productive results to rein in the epidemic.
“My objective is to do something meaningful to abate this crisis and do it in 2018,” Judge Polster said last week.
Our hopes also are buoyed by legal precedent of constructive results from other multidistrict cases. One of the largest involved hundreds of lawsuits in 1998 brought against the four largest U.S. tobacco manufacturers that resulted in far less aggressive marketing practices and in monetary compensation to states that continues today.
Many of the same questions over unscrupulous marketing practices rise to the forefront in the opiates case. We’ll be monitoring it closely for answers on the extent to which drug makers and drug distributors have contributed to the gargantuan growth of the epidemic that now claims more lives of adults under 50 than diseases, car crashes or gun violence.
ANSWERS SOUGHT
In addition to concrete answers on the scope of the pharmaceutical industry’s role in exacerbating the health crisis, we’re hopeful that settlement of the lawsuits ultimately can bring much needed capital resources to communities in the Mahoning Valley and the nation that have been pounded by the costs to treat victims and to prosecute offenders. We also hope the final settlement will produce concrete strategies for lessening access and reducing the outrageous toll on lives and livelihoods the epidemic has taken.
At the first session last week, Polster urged more than 100 attorneys for both plaintiff communities and defendant drug-makers to work assiduously toward an out-of-court settlement to avoid the time, tedium and costs associated with carrying the case through the long labyrinthe of the justice system.
Such a settlement, we suspect, would ride heavily on drugmakers acknowledging some responsibility for the crisis and in lessening its scope.
“With all these smart people here and their clients I’m confident we can do something to dramatically reduce the number of opioids that are being disseminated, manufactured and distributed,” the judge bluntly told them.
Polster is correct. All parties should waste no time toward achieving those ends.
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Opioid Crisis Blamed For Sharp Increase In Accidental Deaths In U.S.
Jan 17, 2018 | NPR
By Scott Neuman
Accidents — defined by the council as unintentional, preventable injuries — claimed a record 161,374 lives in 2016, a 10 percent increase over 2015. They include motor vehicle crashes, falls, drowning, chocking and poisoning, a category that encompasses accidental overdoses.
NSC said in a statement, "The unprecedented spike [in accidental deaths] has been fueled by the opioid crisis. Unintentional opioid overdose deaths totaled 37,814 from drugs including prescription opioid pain relievers, heroin, and illicitly-made fentanyl."
By comparison, motor vehicle deaths were at 40,327 in 2016, a 6.8 percent increase from the previous year. Deaths related to falls were also up by nearly 4 percent and drownings and fire-related deaths saw slight increases from 2015, up 5.1 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively. The only category to show a decline was choking deaths, which were down 4.4 percent.
Ohio led the nation in opioid overdose deaths, with 3,495, followed by New York, with 2,752 and Florida, 2,622.
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Wal-Mart launches program to safely dispose of unused opioids
Jan 17, 2018 | Reuters
By Staff
Wal-Mart Stores Inc on Wednesday said it will provide customers filling prescriptions for opioids with a packet of powder that will help them dispose of leftover medication in order to help curb misuse and abuse.
The company said patients filling any new class II opioid prescriptions at its pharmacies will receive a free packet of the product - called DisposeRx - when filling a new prescription. Patients with chronic Class II opioid prescriptions will be offered a free packet every six months, the company said.
People filling prescriptions at Sam’s Club can also get DisposeRx at their pharmacies.
In order to safely dispose of opioids, patients would add warm water and the DisposeRx powder to their pill bottle, which then forms a biodegradable gel around the pills.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says opioids were involved in over 42,000 deaths in 2016. In October, President Donald Trump declared the problem a national public health emergency.
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the National Institute on Drug Abuse, most people misusing prescription opioids get them from family and friends.
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Cuomo pushes state tax reform, payroll tax in 2019 budget
Jan 16, 2018 | Hudson Valley 260 (NY)
By Richard Moody
Cuomo has been a staunch foe of the federal tax reform law that took effect at the beginning of the year — specifically a provision that allows taxpayers to deduct the first $10,000 of their state and local income and property taxes from their federal taxes.
The governor has called the provision a direct attack against high tax states such as New York that will hurt the state by chasing away more taxpayers and businesses.
“The federal government pushed a button and sent a missile with ‘New York’ written on it,” Cuomo said during his speech Tuesday at the New York State Museum in Albany. “My answer is to get out of the way before it lands. We have to have an answer and we have to have an answer now.”
The governor proposed his own major tax code overhaul plan for the state as a way to avoid the effects of the federal tax reform law, providing a few more details from his State of the State Address he gave earlier this month.
Cuomo’s plan includes:
• Change the state income tax to a payroll tax in which employers pay a tax on wages rather than individuals paying income tax on earnings.
“This will essentially thwart what the federal government passed and will have no cost to businesses,” Cuomo said. “Businesses will be able to deduct that difference from their federal taxes.”
The payroll tax will work for wage earners, not salaried workers, Cuomo said, adding his office is looking into a new tax for the non-wage earners. The state Department of Taxation and Finance is scheduled to release a report on tax reform options Wednesday.
• Set up charitable contribution funds that can be deducted from federal taxes and carries a state tax credit.
• Close the carried interest loophole. Carried interest is compensation hedge fund partners and private equity partners receive, regardless of how much they personally invested, from profits of any investment.
The loophole allows hedge fund managers and other investors to file carried interest as capital gains, which are taxed at 23.8 percent rather than the 39.3 percent income-tax rate for the highest tier of individual earners. The federal tax law failed to close the loophole. The state would need support from other states in the Northeast to close it, the governor said.
“These are very dramatic changes and we are going through them carefully and together,” Cuomo said. “This is not a political issue, it is green. It affects people all across the board. This is the most difficult fight we have ever faced, but it is doable.”
• Sue the federal government, arguing the SALT provision violates equal protection under the law.
• Campaign for repeal of the tax reform law.
“This year is going to be hard,” Cuomo said. “This is going to be the toughest budget we have ever passed.”
The governor’s office and the state Legislature have a $4.4 billion deficit and decreases in federal health care funding to contend with this budget season, which could lead to some tough choices with $1 billion in expected revenues.
“The governor put forth an Executive Budget proposal to tackle the serious, unprecedented issues facing New York state over the coming year, including multiple threats to the state’s financial picture,” state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said. “There is no doubt that New York state faces many challenges ahead.
“While personal income tax collections were strong in December, the future is clouded with uncertainty,” DiNapoli added. “The federal tax bill’s impact on New York’s budget is yet to be fully determined, but we know it will force tough decisions. The level of cuts in federal aid for health care and other programs remains in question. Out-year budget gaps and shrinking statutory debt capacity are also growing concerns.”
Cuomo also proposed:
• A 3 percent, $769 million, increase in school aid, with 70 percent of that increase going to the poorest districts across the state, while requiring those districts to submit a plan to the state Education Department to distribute the money to the poorest schools.
• Continue the middle class tax cut and property tax relief program.
• Renew funding to the Environmental Protection Fund starting at $3 million.
• A $26 million, or 4.5 percent, increase in funding for the state Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. The governor also proposed a 2-cents-per-morphine-milligram-equivalent surcharge to opioid drug manufacturers on the first sale of opioids to the state. The surcharge will generate $125 million in revenue for the state to be used toward more efforts to combat the opioid epidemic, according to the governor’s office.
• A study into the possibility of legalizing recreational marijuana. Though not exactly part of the governor’s budget proposal Cuomo used his speech to announce his directive for the state Department of Health to look into the feasibility of legalizing regulated recreational use of marijuana.
• A uniform sexual harassment policy for all state governments and standards for officials and companies hired by the state government.
Cuomo announced his sexual harassment policy proposals as part of his State of the State Address including preventing taxpayer funds from being used for settlements against individuals relating to sexual assault and harassment, prohibiting confidentiality agreements relating to sexual assault or harassment for all public entities and branches of state and local government, unless it’s the victim’s preference, and annual reporting for any companies that do business with the state that will require disclosure of the number of sexual harassment violations and nondisclosure agreements executed by that company.
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Champaign County sues drugmakers, 3 doctors over opioid risks
Jan 17, 2018 | The News Gazette (IL)
By Tom Kacich
A Champaign law firm has filed suit on behalf of the state of Illinois and Champaign County against a handful of drug companies, asserting that they knew that the painkilling pharmaceuticals they manufactured misled "consumers and medical suppliers through misrepresentations or omissions regarding the appropriate uses, risks and safety of opioids."
The suit was filed last week in Champaign County Circuit Court by Ryan Bradley of the Champaign law firm Koester & Bradley, along with the New York firm Simmons Hanly Conroy and the St. Charles, Ill., firm Meyers & Flowers.
The Champaign County Board voted last month, 21-0, to have the county join with other Illinois municipalities that have hired law firms to pursue claims against drugmakers.
Named in the local lawsuit were the pharmaceutical companies Purdue Pharma, Abbott Laboratories, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Cephalon Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceutcals, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen, Endo Health Solutions Inc., and Perry Fine, Scott Fishman and Lynn Webster.
The three individuals are doctors who the suit said were "instrumental in promoting opioids for sale and distribution nationally and in Champaign County."
Specific to Champaign County, the lawsuit charges that the county had an opioid-related mortality rate of 8.6 per 100,000 in 2015.
"And although not aberrant when compared to many other Illinois counties, the aforementioned rate constitutes a 101.65 percent change in the death rate between 2010 and 2015," says the suit. "That figure, combined with longitudinal data that has been recorded by the Illinois Department of Public Health, further demarcates a trend in adverse outcomes that have resulted from the ongoing opioid crisis."
The suit also said that opioid-induced overdose deaths rose in the county every year between 2013 and 2015, although they dropped slightly in 2016.
In 2015, the suit said, "the county began a partnership with a local hospital that would provide the opioid overdose antidote, Noloxone, and the training that first responders would need to administer it. In 2012, the antidote was administered by paramedics 95 times, by 2016 it was used approximately 300."
The lawsuit alleges that the county has paid and continues to pay "millions of dollars for health care costs that stem from prescription opioid dependence created by defendants' deceptive marketing campaign."
The county is seeking, the suit said, "a judgment requiring all defendants to pay restitution, damages, including multipliers of damages, disgorgement, civil penalties, attorney's fees, costs and expenses, injunctive relief and any other relief to which the county may be entitled."
When Bradley appeared before the county board last month, he said the firms were "optimistic there will be a significant recovery at the end of the day for the county to get back some of the money that was lost. But we're also pushing for injunctive relief, where we want them to change what they're doing."
He said pharmaceutical companies should have to "step up and help with treatment on an ongoing basis."
Under the agreement between the law firms and the county, the lawyers will split 25 percent of the gross amount recovered on behalf of the county.
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Rockford hires lawyers to sue opioid manufacturers, distributors
Jan 16, 2018 | Rockford Register Star (IL)
By Jeff Kolkley
Aldermen on Tuesday night agreed to hire the law firm of Goldenberg, Heller and Antognoli to represent Rockford in a planned joint lawsuit with Winnebago County against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors.
Officials blame the opioid addiction crisis in part on a pharmaceutical industry they say rakes in billions in profits selling opioids while leaving cities and states to deal with the mess that addiction and drug abuse leaves behind.
Mayor Tom McNamara said the city will not pay the lawyers a dime unless they win, in which case the lawyers will take 30 percent of the award plus expenses.
“If we win or lose we don’t pay out anything,” McNamara said. “We could receive a financial award, but our real goal is to change the way these manufacturers and distributors do business.”
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Juneau County joins suit against drug companies
Jan 16, 2018 | Wisc News (WI)
By Jake Ekdahl
Tuesday kicks off the Ideas for Advocacy Conference, which focuses on Ohio's opioid epidemic. The conference is hosted by Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center's Harding Hospital.
Juneau County has entered into a lawsuit with 12 other Wisconsin Counties. They are represented by the firms Crueger Dickinson and Simmons Hanly Conroy. The firms have experience in high-stakes litigation, consumer protection and mass tort actions. They also filed similar suits on behalf of 48 Wisconsin counties.
Opioid overdose in Wisconsin deaths rose by 645 percent over the last 16 years, from 111 deaths in 2000 to 827 deaths in 2016.
The defendants in the case 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.; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions, Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman; and Dr. Lynn Webster.
Juneau is accompanied in the suit by Brown, Crawford, Iron, Kewaunee, Outagamie, Ozaukee, Pepin, Portage, Racine, Richland and Winnebago Counties. The counties seek compensatory and punitive damages for the substantial costs they spend to combat the problems caused by addiction to the opioids manufactured by these companies.
Juneau County Board Chairman Alan Peterson said the county has been considering joining the lawsuit since about September. Peterson said he preferred counties file the lawsuit rather than states so they could directly receive compensation from a potential settlement or ruling.
“When they get done, they expect all 72 counties will be in on it,” Peterson said.
Juneau County Corporation Counsel David Lasker called the opioid epidemic an “equal opportunity misery,” saying it has affected communities regardless of income. Lasker said other similar cases are being currently litigated in other states.
According to the department of human services, “hospital visits involving opioid acute poisoning (including overdose) increased from 25.3 to 52.0 per 100,000 between 2006 and 2014.” Younger men are the most affected demographic.
Juneau County Health Officer Barb Theis said a full-time professional will likely be required to adequately fight the problem of drug addiction. “We are writing for a drug free communities grant so we can have someone full-time,” Theis said.
Families have been impacted as well as individuals. Director of Human Services Scott Ethun, said he has seen addiction in his area of work. “We’ve probably never had this many children in foster care or in placement,” Ethun said. Ethun said staff report “Seventy to 75 percent of those children were removed due to their parents having addiction issues… the addiction is so strong for these people that their ability to parent is really compromised.” Ethun believes addiction accounted for a smaller share of cases in the past.
The 81 page complaint has four main causes of action: deceptive trade practices, public nuisance, unjust enrichment, and intentional misrepresentation.
Lasker said the cause for deceptive trade practices is due to companies being having “sucked in the public and the medical profession into believing that these substances are helpful and good for people.” The cause for public nuisance “gets at the fact that they have created this problem so that it is a problem for all of us in the community.” Unjust enrichment is included because “they have made themselves rich off the backs of people who are suffering.” And intentional misrepresentation is included because it is alleged the companies are “making claims about these things that they know are falls.”
Opioid addiction has affected law enforcement as well. “A lot of people in our jail are there because of addiction issues,” Ethun said.
Some have drawn parallels between this lawsuit and the recent suit against tobacco companies which ended in a settlement. Lasker agrees with the assessment, but believes this case to be more egregious. “There are many similarities, except I would say this is worse than tobacco in terms of impact on the public and the individuals who were victimized,” Lasker said.
A court date has not been set for the case, but Lasker predicts the counties “will prevail in some degree, if not completely.”
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County plans to suing opioid manufacturers, distributors
Jan 16, 2018 | Dundalk Eagle (MD)
By Charlene Mayo
Due to the increasingly high rate of drug use and substance-related deaths, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz announced on Jan. 8 that Baltimore County will file a lawsuit in federal court against a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers and opioid distributors.
The goal, the county noted in a press release, is reimbursement of funds spend combatting the epidemic.
The remainder of this article is under paywall at: http://www.dundalkeagle.com/news/local/county-plans-to-suing-opioid-manufacturers-distributors/article_b9f31f9d-ca32-5cb5-ac4c-c4e51ce48cdb.html
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Jan 17, 2018 | WSFX (Fox)
By Wilmington, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32105143?token=087309ec-acc9-49fb-816c-d0bb1c942dd3
Rough Transcript: a law group wants to help in the fight against opioids. mchugh fullerll law group presented its plan to the columbus county board of commissioners last night. their plan is file a complaint against manufacturers and nu wholesale distributors, joing with bladen, and new hanover counties. if the county does hire the firm, it would come up with a it damage model for the county that would help figure out how much does into fighting the o pioid cris. columbus county's board is taking the firm's proposal into consideration. if columbus joins this law suit it will only pay the law firm ifif they win their case.
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Jan 17, 2018 | WGHP (FOX)
By Greensboro, NC
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32105149?token=087309ec-acc9-49fb-816c-d0bb1c942dd3
Rough Transcript: another piedmont county preparing to sue opioid makers. alamance county commissioners have given the county attorney permission to get proposals from law firms about suing those drug manufacturers. the county plans to hear data on the impact of opioids in the county before voting on a resolution to sue. you can read more about this in the times news.
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