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Opioid Litigation Daily Media Report - 2/23/18
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The states taking the opioid epidemic seriously (and not), in one map (Opinion)
Feb 22, 2018 | Vox
By German Lopez
There’s a simple way to understand how the opioid epidemic got so bad in America: In the US, it is much easier to get high than it is to get help for addiction. -
Are Patient Groups Taking Money from Pharma Really Independent? (Opinion)
Feb 23, 2018 | The People's Pharmacy (NPR)
By Terry Gradeon
Patient advocacy groups are often perceived as an independent voice for the patient’s perspective. A recent Senate report shows that opioid manufacturers paid more than $10 million to patient groups that were in theory grass roots organizations promoting a patient agenda. The Senate investigators found that these groups often supported increased opioid use, a message favorable to the drug companies’ interests. The report is titled: “Exposing the Financial Ties Between Opioid Manufacturers and Third Party Advocacy Groups.” -
What role does genetics play in opioid addiction?
Feb 22, 2018 | CNN
By Michael Nedelman
Researchers have identified another gene that could influence the risk of opioid dependence, a new study shows, adding to the evidence that genetic factors play a crucial role in determining who develops addiction. -
Opioid overdose deaths dropped in these 14 states, prompting cautious optimis
Feb 22, 2018 | PBS News Hour
By Christine Vestal
New provisional data released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drug overdose deaths declined in 14 states during the 12-month period that ended July 2017, a potentially hopeful sign that policies aimed at curbing the death toll may be working. -
Prescription For Addiction: Patients Sue Doctors, Saying They Got Them Hooked On Opioids
Feb 23, 2018 | CBS New York (NY)
By Alex Denis
As dozens of cities and states across the country file lawsuits against drug companies for their role in the opioid epidemic, some patients and their families are now suing the doctors they say got them hooked on these drugs in the first place. -
Insurance Tips For Defendants In Opioid Litigation (Opinion)
Feb 22, 2018 | Law360
By Anna Engh and Cléa Liquard
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. -
Calif. Justices Take Up Actavis' Opioid Suit Coverage Bid
Feb 23, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Sistrunk
California's highest court has agreed to review Actavis' challenge of a lower court's ruling that it isn't covered under a Travelers policy for lawsuits alleging its misleading marketing of painkillers has fueled the nation's opioid addiction problem and caused a spike in heroin use, according to a Wednesday docket entry. -
City of Brunswick sues drug companies over opioid epidemic
Feb 22, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)
By Eric Heisig
The city of Brunswick joined hundreds of governments nationwide in filing suit against drug manufacturers and distributors related to the opioid crisis that has wreaked havoc on Northeast Ohio and the rest of the country. -
Wood Co. considers joining opioid lawsuit
Feb 23, 2018 | Marietta Times (OH)
By Brett Dunlap
The Wood County Commission’s support is being sought in a growing lawsuit being filed against those who manufactured and distributed opioids over the years, allegedly leading to the state’s drug abuse crisis. -
County plans suit against drug companies, distributors
Feb 22, 2018 | La Porte County Herald - Argus (IN)
By Jon Gard
La Porte County will join other municipalities by filling a lawsuit of its own against prescription i and distributors in the opioid crisis. -
Sanford the latest Maine community to join lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 23, 2018 | Bangor Daily News (ME)
By Tammy Wells
In 2017, Sanford medical emergency personnel dealt with 100 opiate overdoses, according to Sanford Fire Chief Steve Benotti. -
Salisbury to join opioid lawsuit
Feb 23, 2018 | Newburyport Daily News (MA)
By Jim Sullivan
The town is joining a national effort to mitigate the costs of battling the opioid addiction crisis. -
Putnam commissioners talk Manila Ridge, finalize opioid suit
Feb 23, 2018 | Charleston Gazette Main (WV)
By Carlee Lammers
Construction on the Manila Ridge water project is expected to begin on or before Oct. 1. -
Wood County to consider joining opioid lawsuit
Feb 22, 2018 | WTAP (WV)
By Todd Baucher
Wood County Commissioners discuss the opioid crisis affecting the county, as well as West Virginia. -
Commissioners Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Feb 23, 2018 | Nisqually Valley News (WA)
By Staff
The Thurston County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting Prosecutor Jon Tunheim’s pursuit of a civil action against manufacturers and wholesalers of prescription opioid pain medication on behalf of Thurston County. -
Anaconda joins lawsuit against Big Pharma
Feb 22, 2018 | Montana Standard (MT)
By Susan Dunlap
Joining a nationwide lawsuit intended to push back on the opioid crisis, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County hopes to recover damages incurred by Anaconda’s drug problem. -
Daybreak
| Parkersburg, WV
By WTAP (NBC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919890?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956 -
ABC12 News at Six
Feb 23, 2018 | Flint, MI
By WJRT (ABC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919900?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956 -
KING 5 News on KONG at 9:30
Feb 23, 2018 | Seattle, WA
By KONG (KONG)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919903?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956 -
WGXA News at 5
Feb 22, 2018 | Macon, GA
By WGXA (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919924?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956 -
FOX5 News This Morning
Feb 22, 2018 | Las Vegas, NV
By KVVU (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919945?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956 -
News15 Today HR 4
Feb 22, 2018 | Lafayette, LA
By KADN (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919960?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Commentary and FYIs
Opioid Litigation Insurance
Midwest (OH, IN)
Northeast (ME, MA)
Southeast (WV)
Northwest (WA)
West (MT)
Broadcast Media Coverage
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The states taking the opioid epidemic seriously (and not), in one map (Opinion)
Feb 22, 2018 | Vox
By German Lopez
There’s a simple way to understand how the opioid epidemic got so bad in America: In the US, it is much easier to get high than it is to get help for addiction.
How this applies at the state level, though, can differ — some states have made an effort to build serious infrastructure around opioid addiction treatment, while others have not. This map, from the health research firm Avalere Health, shows how states are doing in providing a key frontline treatment for opioid addiction, compared to the amount of opioid overdose deaths they have:
The map looks particularly at the number of buprenorphine providers in the state relative to how many opioid overdose deaths a state has. Buprenorphine is a medication used to treat opioid addiction; along with methadone and naltrexone, it’s widely considered the gold standard of care for opioid use disorder, with studies showing medications can cut the all-cause mortality rate among opioid addiction patients by half or more.
So if a state has less access to the drug and a high number of overdose deaths, it’s likely failing at fully addressing its opioid crisis. Based on the map, that appears to be true for states like West Virginia, Ohio, and New Hampshire, where opioid overdose deaths are veryhigh yet access to buprenorphine is low. (One caveat to the map: Some states, like Pennsylvania, have historically undercounted opioid overdose deaths — so they may look better than they deserve in this kind of visualization.)
This doesn’t necessarily mean that the blame falls entirely on these states for letting the opioid crisis continue, because some of them just might not have the resources to deal with the crisis — and train a bunch of buprenorphine providers — even if they want to.
Recently, the New York Times asked experts how they would spend $100 billion over five years — close to the federal domestic budget for HIV/AIDS — to fight the opioid crisis. Nearly half the money, experts said on average, should go to treatment, with an emphasis on medications like buprenorphine.
But some experts also had a dire warning: The $100 billion over five years may not be enough. So as daunting as the hypothetical price tag may already be for states, it might not fully address the opioid epidemic. That’s one reason experts say that this is a national problem that will require a big financial commitment from the federal government to truly tackle.
Consider one of the best-performing states on this map: Vermont. The state has set up a “hub and spoke” system that treats addiction as a public health issue and integrates treatment into the rest of health care. The state was the only one in New England to have a drug overdose death rate that wasn’t significantly above the national average in 2016. (For more, check out my in-depth breakdown of Vermont’s system.)
Much of this came about because Vermont officials put their heads together to seriously address the crisis. But Vermont also managed to build its new system largely with federal dollars, particularly through Obamacare’s insurance expansion and a special Medicaid waiver that states can obtain through the health care law. It’s that kind of federal support that budget-strained states will need to deal with the opioid crisis.
Yet so far, the federal government hasn’t committed the kind of federal money — tens of billions of dollars over the next few years — that experts argue is necessary. We see the results in Avalere’s map, in which high death rates aren’t matched with treatment that could help prevent more of those deaths in the future.
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Are Patient Groups Taking Money from Pharma Really Independent? (Opinion)
Feb 23, 2018 | The People's Pharmacy (NPR)
By Terry Gradeon
Patient advocacy groups are often perceived as an independent voice for the patient’s perspective. A recent Senate report shows that opioid manufacturers paid more than $10 million to patient groups that were in theory grass roots organizations promoting a patient agenda. The Senate investigators found that these groups often supported increased opioid use, a message favorable to the drug companies’ interests. The report is titled: “Exposing the Financial Ties Between Opioid Manufacturers and Third Party Advocacy Groups.”
According to Senator Claire McCaskill, who released the report, “These financial relationships were insidious, lacked transparency, and are one of many factors that have resulted in arguably the most deadly drug epidemic in American history.”
Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin, was one of the biggest donors. Professional medical societies were also recipients of pharma money.
Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Supporting Patient Groups:
This is not the first time patient groups and nonprofit advocacy organizations have been called out for accepting money from the pharmaceutical industry. Last year a report in The New England Journal of Medicine showed that 83 percent of 104 patient-advocacy organizations had received drug company support. The title of the article was: “Conflicts of Interest for Patient-Advocacy Organizations”
When people think of nonprofit patient-advocacy groups they often assume that these independent organizations are working tirelessly to overcome a particular disease or make life better for patients in need. This article reveals that industry support is 1) widespread, 2) conflicts of interest are widespread 3) Disclosure practices are limited and 4) self-regulation of conflicts are poor.Which Patient Groups Are Affected?
Some of the most common and worrisome conditions have been supported by industry money. They include:
Diseases Targeted for Industry Money
Cancer
Nervous system
HIV=AIDS
Musculoskeletal
Heart or lung
Vision
Kidney
Diabetes
Mental health
Lupus
We’re talking big bucks! According to the New England Journal of Medicine review:
“Given that donation amounts were typically reported in ranges, it is impossible in most cases to provide precise estimates of the amount of industry support that patient-advocacy organizations received. Of the 59 organizations that published the amounts of donations, 23 (39%) reported receiving at least $1 million annually from industry donations; 13 (22%) reported receiving less than $1 million; and 23 (39%) reported information that did not allow a determination of whether industry donations were less than $1 million or at least $1 million.”
A completely different research group published similar findings in JAMA (March, 2017). The authors noted:
“This survey study found that 67% of a national sample of patient advocacy organizations, virtually all of which were not for profit, reported receiving funding from for-profit companies. Twelve percent received more than half of their funding from industry; a median proportion of 45% of industry funding was derived from the pharmaceutical, device, and/or biotechnology sectors.”People’s Pharmacy Perspective:
Why should you care where patient groups get their money? We think conflict of interest is always a problem. If you have watched the olympics you want the referees to be absolutely impartial. It would be outrageous if one team had any influence over the judgement of the people overseeing a hockey game, for example.
Most people assume that patient advocacy organizations for heart disease or cancer are totally independent. People give money to such patient groups in the hopes that they will advance research, health policy and education in an objective way. They do not think that the boards of these groups would be infiltrated by industry representatives or that the organizations would become dependent on the largesse of drug companies. Sadly, that is not the case.
We agree with the JAMA study that concluded:
“Financial relationships between PAOs [patient advocacy organizations] and industry demand effective steps to ensure that these groups serve their constituents’ interests while minimizing risks of undue influence and bias. Given the growing ability of PAOs to influence health care policy and practice, their financial practices and safeguards demand the same degree of scrutiny applied to other key actors in the health care landscape.”
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What role does genetics play in opioid addiction?
Feb 22, 2018 | CNN
By Michael Nedelman
Researchers have identified another gene that could influence the risk of opioid dependence, a new study shows, adding to the evidence that genetic factors play a crucial role in determining who develops addiction.
The study, published in final form Thursday in the journal Biological Psychiatry, analyzed the genomes of more than 5,000 Americans who had been exposed to opioids, looking at the differences between those who developed opioid dependence and those who didn't.
The researchers found a genetic variant on one chromosome, near a gene called RGMA, that was associated with opioid dependence in European- and African-Americans. Members of the same research team have identified other genetic variants related to opioid dependence in the past.
The latest paper goes "multiple steps beyond a traditional (genome-wide association) study," said Rohan Palmer, assistant professor of psychology at Emory University and the director of its Behavioral Genetics of Addiction Laboratory. Palmer was not involved in the new study.
he researchers bolstered their findings by looking at gene expression in human and mouse brains. In human samples, they found a correlation between the expression of RGMA and a handful of other genes that have been linked to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism and Alzheimer's disease.
Palmer said this overlap across different psychiatric conditions could be "an underlying dimension which stems from shared disruptions in brain functioning."
Analyzing the data in human and mouse brain tissues adds to the genome-wide analysis, which alone "is not a slam dunk," said the study's senior author, Dr. Joel Gelernter, a professor of psychiatry, genetics and neuroscience at the Yale School of Medicine. "Put everything together, and I think it's a pretty good story."
Still, it's not a done deal until other researchers can replicate his findings in new samples. "If we're the only ones who ever see it, that's not good enough," he said.
The RGMA gene originates a signal that tells nerve fibers where they need to go. Changes to these molecules could disrupt the brain's circuits, which experts say may predispose someone to neurological and psychiatric diseases. Still, how genes like RGMA could impact addiction risk remains unclear, experts say.
"We're making decent guesses about what we think is going on," Gelernter said. "New properties of known proteins are discovered all the time. There could be a completely different mechanism."
Addiction and mental illness are known to be affected by multiple genes. For example, schizophrenia has been connected to more than 100 genetic markers.
Other research takes a closer look at the impact of environmental factors such as housing and education.
Between 40% and 60% of a person's "vulnerability to addiction" is related to genetic factors, including the impact of environmental factors on how those genes work, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. These numbers explain more about the variability across a population than how much of an individual's addiction risk is determined by their genes, Palmer said.
"The relative import of any one of those (genetic or environmental factors) is going to vary from person to person," Palmer said. "Genetics aren't the end-all."
Any one gene might be a relatively small drop in the bucket, according to Gelernter. "In order to get the 50% or so of risk that's determined by genetic factors, you have to take variation at ... hundreds or thousands of loci, each of which individually has a small effect," he said.
At the same time, one gene can have a major effect on addiction, he added. Variants of genes that metabolize alcohol -- which may result in what is commonly referred to as "Asian flush" -- have been associated with lower rates of alcohol dependence.
"Depending on the one base you have or don't have out of 3 billion in your genome, you can take a drink of alcohol and feel OK, or you can take a drink of alcohol and feel very sick," Gelernter said.
Experts say that continued research could further unravel the biology of addiction, enabling them to better predict when someone is at greater risk for addiction and other mental health conditions. Down the line, some hope this information can even be used to develop new treatments.
"I hope it's amenable to therapy," Gelernter said, "but it might not be."
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Opioid overdose deaths dropped in these 14 states, prompting cautious optimis
Feb 22, 2018 | PBS News Hour
By Christine Vestal
New provisional data released this month by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that drug overdose deaths declined in 14 states during the 12-month period that ended July 2017, a potentially hopeful sign that policies aimed at curbing the death toll may be working.
In an opioid epidemic that began in the late 1990s, drug deaths have been climbing steadily every year, in nearly every state. A break in that trend, even if limited to just 14 states, has prompted cautious optimism among some public health experts.
“It could be welcome news,” said Caleb Alexander, an epidemiologist and co-director of Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness.
“If we’re truly at a plateau or inflection point, it would be the best news all year,” he said. “But we’re still seeing rates of overdose that are leaps and bounds higher than what we were seeing a decade ago and far beyond any other country in the world.”
The reported drop in overdose deaths occurred in Wyoming, Utah, Washington, Alaska, Montana, Mississippi, Kansas, Rhode Island, Oregon, California, Tennessee, Massachusetts, Arizona and Hawaii. That compares with declines in only three states — Nebraska, Washington and Wyoming — reported for an earlier 12-month period that ended in January 2017.
But even as more states saw a drop in deaths, several saw death spikes of more than 30 percent, most likely due to the increasing presence of the deadly synthetic drug fentanyl in the illicit drug supply, drug experts say. Those are Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio and Pennsylvania, along with the District of Columbia.
Published monthly since August, the new CDC statistics are a compilation of death certificate data from all 50 states for a rolling 12-month period ending seven months prior to release of each report. The seven-month delay is roughly the amount of time it takes for states to complete death investigations and report causes of death, and for the CDC to compile the data.
Previously, the CDC only made death data available once a year and it was 12 to 14 months behind. In a fast-moving opioid scourge, epidemiologists say the increased frequency of overdose death reporting is a welcome improvement.
Farida Ahmad, a public health expert with the CDC, cautioned that the monthly provisional death numbers are subject to change because as many as 2 percent of death certificates for the time period have not been reported. A final death count for 2017 will not be available until November, she said.Increased Volatility
In Alaska, where deaths declined more than 11 percent between the 12-month period ending July 2016 and the 12-month period ending July 2017, the state’s public health chief, Jay Butler, said the trend has been cause for some optimism.
The greatest portion of that decline was in prescription opioids, drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin, Butler said.
“And we may be seeing a plateauing, if not a decline, in overdose deaths from heroin,” he added. “The bad news is that we’re seeing more deaths from fentanyl.”
Indeed, fentanyl-related deaths spiked more than 70 percent nationwide in the 12-month period ending July 2017, according to the report.
“Using illicit drugs has always been a game of roulette,” Butler said. “There’s just more bullets in the chamber now.
“When the epidemic was driven primarily by prescription opioids, we saw a smoldering and chronically escalating problem,” he said. “Now we’re seeing outbreaks and clusters of death resulting from bad batches of heroin or counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.”Still Rising
The recent drop in opioid deaths in some states might be significant, experts say, but they caution it should be seen in the context of the worst drug death epidemic in U.S. history.
In 2016, the annual overdose death count reached nearly 64,000, more than three times as many as in 1999. It surpassed the number of fatalities from automobile crashes and homicides, becoming the No. 1 cause of death among Americans 50 and younger.
Aside from the 14 states seeing declines, there are few signs of relief ahead.
Nationwide, the death toll is still rising, although possibly at a lower rate than in the past two years. According to the CDC’s current provisional report, the total number of overdose deaths increased 14 percent in the 12-month period ending in July 2017, compared to a 21 percent increase in the 12- month period that ended in January 2017.
One reason could be a decline in the availability of prescription painkillers. Even as overdose deaths spiraled over the last five years, the rate of prescribed opioid consumption began to decline.
That could mean lower rates of heroin use, addiction and overdose deaths in the future, Alexander said. A vast majority — 86 percent — of young, urban injection drug users started misusing prescription opioids before turning to heroin, according to surveys by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Another likely reason for a tapering in death counts is the widespread use of the overdose antidote naloxone, public health experts say.
“It’s hard to imagine how high the death toll would be without naloxone,” said Michael Kilkenny, the Cabell-Huntington public health director in West Virginia.
“It’s a little too soon to tell,” he said, “but we may be seeing the beginning of a decline in the number of deaths in Huntington,” a small city that has the highest overdose death rate in West Virginia, the state with the highest overdose death rate in the country.
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Prescription For Addiction: Patients Sue Doctors, Saying They Got Them Hooked On Opioids
Feb 23, 2018 | CBS New York (NY)
By Alex Denis
As dozens of cities and states across the country file lawsuits against drug companies for their role in the opioid epidemic, some patients and their families are now suing the doctors they say got them hooked on these drugs in the first place.
CBS 2’s Alex Denis investigated the prescription for addiction Thursday night.
“I was addicted,” said Tatiana Green. “At some point, you have to know that the drug is killing people.”
It’s this potential knowledge that has a growing number of doctors being sued by patients now battling addiction, or the families of those who have died from it.
“She had basically pleaded with the doctor to stop giving her husband narcotics,” said attorney David Pollack.
Pollack recently represented the wife of a man who died of an opioid overdose on Long Island.
“He should have known that he was hooked when he came in,” Pollack said.
The doctor, Michael Belfiore of Merrick, was eventually found liable in the wrongful death civil suit.
“(The patient) died from a combination of Oxycodone and Xanax,” Pollack said.
“Doctors have a responsibility,” said Angelo Valente, executive director of the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey. “They have to make sure that they prescribe based on the guidelines that are in place.”
Valente said doctors have been so irresponsible with prescribing these drugs for so long that New Jersey is one of the first states to take matters into its own hands and set limits.
“They can only prescribe a five day supply for a first prescription,” Valente said.
Additionally, doctors and dentists in New Jersey are now required by law to inform patients of potential opioid side effects.
“It is common sense. It’s crucial that a patient who is given a drug that could potentially become addictive understand that,” Valente said.
At 25, and after a long battle, Green is now drug free.
“You’re going to make it and persevere through all of this,” she said through tears.
She hopes the threat of a potential lawsuit is enough for doctors to think twice before enabling anyone else to become so dependent on such drugs.
“This little girl that’s walking into your office doesn’t need this medication,” Green said. “Give her something that’s non-narcotic and let her fight through this pain another way, because she could get addicted.”
Dr. Belfiore is now facing federal criminal charges. But his attorney told CBS2 doctors can’t control what patients do once they leave their offices.
If anyone should be held accountable, the attorney said, it is the pharmaceutical companies which mislead doctors into believing opioids were safe and non-addictive.
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Insurance Tips For Defendants In Opioid Litigation (Opinion)
Feb 22, 2018 | Law360
By Anna Engh and Cléa Liquard
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.
This article provides an overview of the types of insurance coverage companies may have for opioid-related lawsuits and investigations. As outlined below, several types of insurance policies potentially cover defense costs as well as the costs of any ultimate liability. This article also discusses several coverage issues that may arise under such policies and highlights practical tips for how policyholders can maximize their insurance coverage.
General Liability Policies
Opioid-related claims may well be covered under commercial general liability 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 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 several 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 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.” The one appellate court to have reached the issue to date 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 and 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 may purport to exclude damages in the form of restitution or disgorgement, or where the policyholder gained profit or advantage to which it was not entitled. Even where an E&O insurer says it does not cover restitutionary-type 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. Many insurance policies require reasonably prompt notice to the insurer when practicable. 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 also some 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 noticing the claims under those earlier policies.
Cooperation obligations. Liability policies may have conditions purporting to require policyholders to reasonably 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 disclosures made in the course of cooperating with insurers.
Consent obligations. Insurance policies may purport to require insurers’ consent when policyholders retain defense counsel or enter into a settlement, which insurers cannot unreasonably withhold. 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. -
Calif. Justices Take Up Actavis' Opioid Suit Coverage Bid
Feb 23, 2018 | Law360
By Jeff Sistrunk
California's highest court has agreed to review Actavis' challenge of a lower court's ruling that it isn't covered under a Travelers policy for lawsuits alleging its misleading marketing of painkillers has fueled the nation's opioid addiction problem and caused a spike in heroin use, according to a Wednesday docket entry.
The California justices indicated in the entry that they had voted to grant Actavis Inc.'s petition for review, which the company filed after a three-judge state appeals panel affirmed a trial court's ruling in favor of The Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America in November.
The panel reached its conclusion after finding that suits against Actavis and other pharmaceutical companies lodged by two California counties and the city of Chicago don't trigger coverage under the insurer's general liability policies because the actions are rooted in allegations of intentional wrongdoing by the drugmakers rather than an accidental event, or "occurrence."
According to the docket entry, while the California Supreme Court will consider Actavis' appeal, it has put further briefing in the matter on hold pending the resolution of a case called Liberty Surplus v. Ledesma & Meyer Construction Co., which deals with similar issues and is set for oral arguments before the state justices on March 6. Like Actavis' dispute with Travelers, the Ledesma case involves questions of whether intentional conduct by a policyholder that leads to unintentional consequences can be considered an occurrence in a liability policy, albeit in a different context.
Travelers and subsidiary St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Co. had sued Actavis and Watson in California court in September 2014 to avoid covering the underlying suits, which were both filed several months earlier and remain pending.
In the two underlying complaints, Chicago and California's Orange and Santa Clara counties claimed Actavis and other pharmaceutical companies overstated the benefits of opioid painkillers while trivializing their risks of addiction, overdose and death in an effort to enhance sales. The city and counties also alleged the opioid crisis has led to a resurgence in heroin use, as painkiller addicts have turned to the illicit drug for a cheaper fix. The government entities are seeking damages for, among other things, the past and future costs of providing increased care to opioid- and heroin-addicted residents.
Following a March 2016 bench trial in the insurance dispute, Judge William D. Claster of Orange County Superior Court entered a judgment in Travelers' favor, holding that Actavis has no shot at coverage because the underlying suits did not allege an accident and, alternatively, because the policies' products exclusions applied. Actavis appealed.
In a Nov. 6 ruling, an appellate panel in Santa Ana agreed with Judge Claster's conclusion, finding that under California law, an accident does not occur for coverage purposes if the policyholder performs a deliberate act, unless some other "additional, unexpected, independent and unforeseen happening" occurs that causes an injury. Here, none of the injuries alleged by the municipalities was unexpected or unforeseen, the panel found.
Moreover, the panel held, even if the underlying suits raised the possibility that Actavis could be held liable for covered unintentional conduct, coverage would still be erased by exclusions in the Travelers policies for any injuries "arising out of" or "result[ing] from" the drugmaker's products.
In its petition for review at the California high court, Actavis said the appellate panel got it wrong because extensive Golden State precedent establishes that an insurer may have a duty to defend if a policyholder is accused of engaging in intentional conduct that leads to unintended consequences.
Here, although the government plaintiffs allege that Actavis carried out a deliberate campaign to boost its opioid sales, they haven't claimed that the company intended for consumers to rampantly abuse opioids or, worse yet, turn to heroin as a cheaper alternative, the petition says.
Actavis further argued that the appellate panel flouted precedent by ruling that the products exclusions in Travelers' policies broadly bar coverage for the underlying suits. According to the drugmaker, not all of the government plaintiffs' allegations arise from Actavis' products; for instance, they also claimed that Actavis disparaged other companies' over-the-counter pain medications in order to foster favor for opioids.
The California Supreme Court's approach to the occurrence question in Actavis' case will likely be informed by its forthcoming decision in the Ledesma matter, which, by state statute, must be rendered no later than 90 days after March 6's oral arguments.
The policyholder in that case, Ledesma & Meyer Construction Co., is seeking coverage for claims that its former employee sexually abused a student during the course of a project at Cesar E. Chavez Middle School in San Bernardino County. The builder's insurer, Liberty Surplus Insurance Corp., has argued that a negligent supervision claim against a company can never be a covered accident if an employee of the business intentionally harms someone.
Counsel for Actavis declined comment, while a Travelers spokeswoman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Travelers and St. Paul are represented by Robert A. Kole and Jean-Paul Jaillet of Choate Hall & Stewart LLP, and Ronald D. Kent and Joshua Kroot of Dentons.
Actavis and Watson are represented by James R. Murray and Linda Kornfeld of Blank Rome LLP.
The case is The Travelers Property Casualty Co. of America et al. v. Actavis Inc. et al., case number S245867, in the California Supreme Court. -
City of Brunswick sues drug companies over opioid epidemic
Feb 22, 2018 | Cleveland.com (OH)
By Eric Heisig
The city of Brunswick joined hundreds of governments nationwide in filing suit against drug manufacturers and distributors related to the opioid crisis that has wreaked havoc on Northeast Ohio and the rest of the country.
The Medina County community filed its suit Wednesday against Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson and others. It says the opioids pushed by the defendants led to a massive addiction problem that caused the city to spend "exorbitant" amounts of money to combat the problem through law enforcement and social and medical services.
"Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of the City of Brunswick," the lawsuit says.
The city in January hired Houston law firm Fleming, Nolen & Jez and Cleveland firm Elk & Elk. Should the lawsuit be successful, the city would pay the firms 25 percent of any damages or settlement it receives and would pay litigation expenses out of its portion.
The suit is one of hundreds filed mostly by local and state governments against the drug companies.
Cleveland federal Judge Dan Polster oversees all of the cases and has pushed both sides to settle the case. A settlement conference is set for March 6 at the federal courthouse in Cleveland.
The lawsuits say the drug manufacturers overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of addiction when treating pain with opioids, and that distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of prescription painkillers.
Other governments in Northeast Ohio have either filed suit or indicated they would, including Cuyahoga County and the cities of Parma and Lorain. The state of Ohio also filed suit in state court, though Attorney General Mike DeWine was present for settlement talks Polster hosted in January.
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Wood Co. considers joining opioid lawsuit
Feb 23, 2018 | Marietta Times (OH)
By Brett Dunlap
The Wood County Commission’s support is being sought in a growing lawsuit being filed against those who manufactured and distributed opioids over the years, allegedly leading to the state’s drug abuse crisis.
Attorneys Mark Colantonio and Clayton Fitzsimmons of the Fitzsimmons Law Firm in Wheeling appeared before the commission Thursday to discuss their litigation and what they are looking to accomplish.
They are representing several counties in the state in action regarding the opioid epidemic.
They have filed a lawsuit in the northern district of West Virginia. That case was moved to federal court where all cases dealing with alleged opioid abuse filed in federal court are being overseen by a federal judge in Cleveland.
”We represent several counties in West Virginia on the opioid problem in West Virginia,” Colantonio said. ”The (Wood) county (Commission) was interested in obtaining information about our lawsuit and potentially joining that lawsuit.”
Their firm represents 12 counties in West Virginia. There are 20 counties in litigation now over this issue.
Their law firm is trying to get the case sent back to state court.
”We want local juries and judges to hear our case,” Colantonio said.
He said they should know in the next 30 days if their case will be heard in state or federal court.
The firm brought its case against the opioid manufacturers, some distributors, a few doctors and salespeople who allegedly mismarketed the opioids and others.
The commission went into executive session to discuss the details of the case with the attorneys.
The commission will take action on Monday to approve a contract to join the lawsuit and an ordinance outlining the opioid problem in Wood County.
”We have certainly had harm,” Commission President Blair Couch said.
After the executive session Colantonio said the lawsuit is a way to address the problem. Their complaint is 300-pages long. ”It reads like a book and tells the story from the beginning to how we got here now,” Colantonio said.
The lawsuit is a way to get money back to address the problem, he said.
”The lawsuit is an attempt by several counties to recover money they have already expended and will expend into the future for damages caused by the opioid problem in West Virginia,” Colantonio said. ”Everyone realizes and understands there is an opioid problem in West Virginia. There is no question about that. It is our sincere hope that doing what we are doing, we can be a positive force to solving this problem.”
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County plans suit against drug companies, distributors
Feb 22, 2018 | La Porte County Herald - Argus (IN)
By Jon Gard
La Porte County will join other municipalities by filling a lawsuit of its own against prescription i and distributors in the opioid crisis.
Like similar lawsuits, this one will accuse the drug companies of deceptive marketing practices that contributed to the epidemic and will seek reimbursement for the cost of increased public health and safety services.
The county’s Board of Commissioners approved an agreement Wednesday with the law firms of Cohen & Malad in Indianapolis and Friedman & Associates in La Porte for professional services related to the lawsuit.
Lynn A. Toops, an attorney with Cohen & Malad, said La Porte County was among more than 300 communities across the nation trying to recover damages caused by the epidemic, funds that can be used for addiction treatment, education and law enforcement.
“This lawsuit provides one more tool cities and counties have to address an opioid epidemic that is wreaking havoc in Indiana and across the country by obtaining funds from the parties responsible for creating this situation,” Toops said. “That’s the true goal of this lawsuit.”
Like similar lawsuits filed over the past three months, this one will contend the “dramatic increase” in painkiller use in La Porte County resulted from the defendants’ “deceptive marketing” of opioid drugs for financial gain and their “failure to identify, report and stop suspicious orders of opioids.”
“Opioids provide effective treatment for short-term post-surgical and trauma-related pain, and for palliative end-of-life care,” the lawsuits state. “Manufacturer defendants, however, have manufactured, promoted and marketed opioids for the management of other forms of pain by misleading consumers and medical providers through misrepresentations or omissions regarding the appropriate uses, risks and safety of opioids.”
Distributors named in the lawsuits are blamed for failing to report excessive orders of opioids to the federal Drug Enforcement Agency as required by law.
More than 128 opioid prescriptions per 100 residents were filled in La Porte County in 2012, Toops said, citing figures from the federal Centers for Disease Control. The number has declined to 108 but remains excessive, she said.
“It’s hard to wrap your head around those kinds of numbers,” Toops told the commissioners. “By definition, they represent suspicious orders and should have been stopped and reported.”
Toops said her firm represents several Indiana cities and counties in similar lawsuits against the same companies, including St. Joseph County, Lake County, Madison County, Scott County, Marshall County, Hammond, Lafayette, Indianapolis.
In a 162-page claim filed by Lake County in January, the plaintiff details the methods by which more than 20 defendants are alleged to have perpetrated their schemes in pursuit of riches. It requests creation of an abatement fund by defendants from which claims can be paid.
One of the defendants, Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin, and three of its executives pleaded guilty in 2007 to federal criminal charges for misleading regulators, doctors and patients about the risk of addiction associated with their product and the drug’s potential to be misused.
Several drug manufacturers and distributors named in the lawsuits previously denied the allegations, according to news reports.
A federal judicial panel in December ruled the lawsuits should be consolidated and assigned to Judge Dan A. Polster of the U.S. District Court in Cleveland, who has assembled a team of magistrates and judicial assistants for the mass action.
Polster has indicated he is interested in finding an early resolution to the cases rather than engaging in lengthy litigation “because too many people are dying from opioid overdoses every day,” Toops said.
Cohen & Malad and Friedman & Associates agree to cover all litigation costs and expenses in prosecution of the county’s claim, according to the contract, and will be paid one-third of any settlement recovered on behalf of the county.
The county is not obligated to reimburse the legal firms if there is no recovery, the contract states.
“I don’t see a down side for the county,” board attorney Doug Biege told the commissioners.
La Porte attorney Shaw Friedman, who appeared before the commissioners with Toops on Wednesday, is the attorney for the La Porte County Council and is listed as plaintiff’s attorney on similar opioid lawsuits.
The agreement with the county calls for Friedman & Associates to receive 20 percent of the recovery set aside for attorney fees while Cohen & Malad would receive 80 percent.
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Sanford the latest Maine community to join lawsuit against opioid makers
Feb 23, 2018 | Bangor Daily News (ME)
By Tammy Wells
In 2017, Sanford medical emergency personnel dealt with 100 opiate overdoses, according to Sanford Fire Chief Steve Benotti.
If the numbers hold true for 2018 as the year progresses, incidents from Jan. 1 to Feb. 20 indicate the potential for a 32 percent increase by Dec. 31 over 2017, Benotti said, and a 170 percent increase from when the department started keeping statistics in 2014, when there were 49.
The human toll as well as the financial toll on city services prompted City Council on Tuesday to enter into an agreement with a New York law firm to join a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
In doing so, Sanford is joining a number of other Maine municipalities which have signed on, including both Biddeford and Saco in York County, and dozens more across the country.
Earlier in the evening, the council had met behind closed doors with attorney Adam Lee of the Auburn law firm Trafton, Matzen, Belleu & Frenette LLP, the Maine firm working with the New York prosecuting law firm Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC, and passed the resolution in public session that authorized the city to join the lawsuit.
None of the councilors commented prior to the vote, but some did after the meeting had concluded.
“Anything we can do to help the opioid problem in Sanford is a major step forward,” said Councilor John Tuttle.
“This will allow us to recoup some of the funds taxpayers have already spent on emergency care,” said Councilor Robert Stackpole, noting if the suit is successful, it will help pay for future costs. He said he would like to see support for future opioid prevention programs.
“It is a drain on our resources and will be for a considerable amount of time,” said Councilor Maura Herlihy of the opioid addiction issue in the city. “(Addicts) continue on the path until the inevitable end or find a way to curb their addiction and live their lives.”
There is no upfront cost to the suit; the city would pay 25 percent of any settlement plus a share of costs, according to the agreement.
According to City Manager Steve Buck, Napoli Shkolnik is a world renowned law firm, best known for their success in multi-district lawsuits, such as the 9/11 Twin Tower class action suit in New York.
In a memo to councilors, Buck said the opioid suit has similarities to a suit that resulted in a settlement with the tobacco industry some years ago.
“The difference would be that in this case the payout would go directly to those named in the case, i.e. the City of Sanford,” he wrote.
According to figures prepared by Benotti, some supplies, like Narcan, an atomizer, a bag valve mask and an airway implement used in treating someone with an overdose add up to about $64. Depending on the patient, other items may include pads for defibrillator at $70; intravenous supplies, if required, add $110.
The figures do not include wages of the emergency medical personnel, which varies from four to nine, depending on the situation and the severity of it, Benotti wrote in a memo to Buck.
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Salisbury to join opioid lawsuit
Feb 23, 2018 | Newburyport Daily News (MA)
By Jim Sullivan
The town is joining a national effort to mitigate the costs of battling the opioid addiction crisis.
The Boston-based law firm Kopelman and Paige handles legal matters for Salisbury and is part of a consortium of similar Massachusetts firms joining in a national lawsuit against pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors of prescription opiates.
Kopelman and Paige has joined with Sweeney Merrigan Law and Rodman, Rodman and Sandman to form the Massachusetts Opioid Litigation Attorneys consortium, which intends to file lawsuits against the drug companies to recoup some of the costs municipalities have incurred while fighting the opioid epidemic.
“My understanding is that dozens, if not hundreds, of communities around the state and the country will be joining this lawsuit,” Town Manager Neil Harrington said. “Basically, they are looking at initiating a civil suit against those companies that are legally responsible for the wrongful distribution of prescription opiates throughout the country.”
Damages from the lawsuit are expected to cover past costs incurred while fighting the opioid epidemic as well as any future costs.
The law firms will assume all costs of litigation and would receive a 25 percent portion of any potential settlement while the participating municipalities would split the rest.
“There is no cost for the legal action,” Harrington said. “The lawyers are taking this action on our behalf and are taking it on a contingency basis.”
Harrington recommended to selectmen Feb. 12 that the town engage in the lawsuit. Selectmen unanimously agreed.
Salisbury will join Hopedale, Webster, North Attleborough and Norton among the municipalities represented in the lawsuit.
The impact of the opioid epidemic on Salisbury “is significant,” according to Harrington.
“We have had a significant number of expenses related trying to combat this problem,” Harrington said.
While money can help pay for addiction treatment and rehabilitation programs, Harrington said the true cost of the opioid crisis can never be put into dollars and cents.
“This crisis has resulted in significant economic disruption to several cities and towns across the country, never mind the tragedy of overdoses,” Harrington said. “There has been significant harm caused to communities here on top of the tragedy of the opioid epidemic.”
Harrington said the town was involved in a similar lawsuit several years ago when a group of law firms sued major oil manufacturers for adding methyl tert-butyl ether into gasoline.
“MTBE is an additive that is put into gasoline which, if it leaked into certain soils, would cause problems with water supplies,” Harrington said. “Salisbury joined that suit under similar circumstances and there was a huge settlement. I believe Salisbury was rewarded somewhere between $300,000 to $400,000. It was a significant sum of money.”
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Putnam commissioners talk Manila Ridge, finalize opioid suit
Feb 23, 2018 | Charleston Gazette Main (WV)
By Carlee Lammers
Construction on the Manila Ridge water project is expected to begin on or before Oct. 1.
In a room packed full of Manila Ridge residents, Putnam County commissioners voted Thursday to approve an agreement for the $1.5 million community block grant they were awarded for the project in January.
The county received the grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development through its Small Cities Block Grant. The funds are managed by the West Virginia Development Office’s Community Development Division.
The Small Cities Block Grants are federal funds administered by the West Virginia Development Office for infrastructure and similar projects around the state for low to moderate income areas.
Fifty-four households are expected to receive water, said Terry Martin, a project coordinator for the regional Intergovernmental Council. Officials will have to revisit the area to get an official count — as some people may have moved, built additional houses or moved a mobile home off the property.
Martin said there are still several technical things that need to be done before the project can go out to bid — especially since the project has been in the works for at least seven years.
Officials will have to verify the information they have on file, but residents who have already signed an easement should not have to re-sign, Martin said.
“We’re going to speed this up as much as possible,” he said. “There’s requirements in order to go forward.”
The entire project is expected to cost the county nearly $1.8 million; however, the county is prepared to contribute approximately $400,000, Commission President Andy Skidmore said.
Residents will have to pay an estimated $12 fee, Martin said.
Until additional grant or severance tax funds become available, Skidmore told residents the third phase of the Manila Ridge project and other additional water projects cannot be completed.
Also at the meeting Thursday, commissioners met in a closed session with attorney Alan Pritt, whose firm is representing the county in the multi-district litigation panel against wholesalers who flooded the state with opioids.
The panel will be tasked with creating a formula to determine the amount and types of damages throughout the nation, he said. The panel will also be tasked with determining “who can show up to the table, so to speak,” Pritt told commissioners at a meeting last month.
“What is a town, what is a city? Essentially the question is — there are very small municipalities. Think very, very small, under 2,000 people. Like, the city of Pratt, even Winfield,” he said previously. “Do they sit at the same table as Chicago if they file a claim? Louisville if they file a claim?”
Pritt previously said through their investigation, his firm has identified a number of local doctors and pharmacies that have caused injury to the community in the opioid epidemic.
“The argument is this injury to the community is ongoing,” he said. “The prescriptions may not be filled anymore, but the addiction issues are ongoing. This is an ongoing harm to our community.”
Commissioners met in a closed-door session to review the suit and make any final changes before Pritt filed it that evening.
After learning that members of the Kanawha County Commision were withholding funding from the to the Region 3 Regional Intergovernmental Council and ending further funding “until significant changes are adopted,” Putnam County commissioners spoke with the organization’s executive director Thursday at the meeting.
Kanawha County commissioners made the decision — citing “excessive” travel expenses and furniture and flooring purchases,” according to a previous Gazette-Mail report.
Region 3 RIC is one of 11 of its kind in the state. Its role includes providing smaller local government units in Kanawha, Boone, Putnam and Clay counties with planning and grant-writing services and serving as the designated regional planning organization for the Federal Highways Administration, according to a previous Gazette-Mail report.
Putnam County commissioners asked Region 3 RIC executive director Colt Sandoro to respond to and explain the concerns expressed by commissioners in Kanawha County before they would make a funding decision.
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Wood County to consider joining opioid lawsuit
Feb 22, 2018 | WTAP (WV)
By Todd Baucher
Wood County Commissioners discuss the opioid crisis affecting the county, as well as West Virginia.
They're considering joining a statewide lawsuit over the issue.
Attorneys from the firm filing the lawsuit discussed it with the commission Thursday.
It seeks to recover money spent fighting the problem in the Mountain State, one of those affected most by it.
The suit, filed in Marshall County, names several drug companies and pharmacies as defendants.
"There's been many ideas bandied around at this point," Attorney Mark Colantonio, of the Fitzsimmons Law Firm from Wheeling, said after meeting with the commissioners. "I don't think anybody has a silver bullet. But it's our hope that we can positively contribute to that effort, and see that this problem is somehow remediated over the next few years."
Commission President Blair Couch says the commissioners expect to make a decision Monday about joining the suit.
12 West Virginia counties already have done so.
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Commissioners Sue Opioid Manufacturers
Feb 23, 2018 | Nisqually Valley News (WA)
By Staff
The Thurston County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution supporting Prosecutor Jon Tunheim’s pursuit of a civil action against manufacturers and wholesalers of prescription opioid pain medication on behalf of Thurston County.
Prosecutor Jon Tunheim said, “I greatly appreciate the support of the Board of County Commissioners as we move forward with our efforts to hold opioid manufacturers accountable for their part in creating the current opioid crisis.”
The resolution states that there is reason to believe manufacturers and wholesalers of prescription opioid pain medications made false and misleading statements to people, including physicians, and reaped significant profits from the sale of opioids. Thurston County citizens, including those in Yelm, have been significantly harmed as a result of this conduct and because of these acts, he said. Thurston County has responded to opioid related health emergencies incurring significant additional public health and safety related costs.
“The Board is in full support of Prosecutor Tunheim’s pursuit of civil action against this industry,” said Commission Chair Bud Blake. “Thurston County, like surrounding areas, is facing an opioid epidemic. We must do something about this, and it has to begin with the producers and manufacturers of these highly addictive drugs.”
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Anaconda joins lawsuit against Big Pharma
Feb 22, 2018 | Montana Standard (MT)
By Susan Dunlap
Joining a nationwide lawsuit intended to push back on the opioid crisis, Anaconda-Deer Lodge County hopes to recover damages incurred by Anaconda’s drug problem.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge's County Commission voted unanimously, 5-0, Tuesday evening to join the lawsuit against Purdue Pharma LP and a host of other pharmaceutical companies and distributors. The class action lawsuit, filed on behalf of Montana counties late last year in Great Falls, includes Gallatin and Cascade counties. But Justin Staples, an attorney with Bozeman-based Beck, Amsden, and Staples, said the suit has hundreds of counties that have already joined across the U.S.
The lawsuit alleges that nearly 20 pharmaceutical and drug distribution companies fraudulently marketed prescription opioids which resulted in “addiction, criminal activity and loss of life,” according to the complaint.
An email to a spokesperson at Purdue Pharma LP was not returned.
The complaint states that for many years, drug companies minimized the risk of patients becoming addicted to opioids and convinced both doctors and patients alike that prescribed opioid drugs “can and should” be used for chronic pain.
The companies also promoted "pseudoaddiction," which led to treating addiction with more opioids, exaggerated the effectiveness of screening tools in preventing addition, claimed opioid dependence and withdrawal are easily managed, denied the risk of higher opioid dosages, and exaggerated the effectiveness of drug-related efforts to prevent abuse and addiction, according to the complaint.
Opioids come under many different names in prescription medicine. OxyContin is one. Others include oxycodone and Vicodin.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Police Chief Tim Barkell told The Montana Standard Thursday that, in Anaconda, the methamphetamine problem is worse, but he is seeing an uptick in opioid addiction in the Smelter City.
When people become addicted to prescription opioids, they often turn to street drugs to get their fix once they can no longer get a prescription through a physician.
“We’re seeing heroin in town. It’s a cheap way to take care of the opioid problem,” Barkell said.
Barkell said Anaconda-Deer Lodge County was an early forerunner in the prescription take-back drug effort. Anyone can stop by the Anaconda Police Department and safely dispose of their prescription medication. Barkell said the Anaconda police see about 60 pounds of prescription medication a year through that program.
Anaconda resident Bill Clark, 62, who attended Tuesday evening’s commission meeting, told the Standard that the county needs to “take action on this horrible epidemic.” Clark spoke to commissioners in favor of the county adding its name to the suit.
Clark told the Standard he has experience with family members getting addicted to opioids.
“It’s a horrible thing,” he said.
Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Chief Executive Bill Everett told the Standard the county incurs a monetary cost, from the law department to the court system, in dealing with the effects of addiction.
Staples said the law firm has not established dollar figure for the suit.
“What we’re looking for are damages sufficient to give the counties resources to combat the opioid crisis. Counties are already expending tremendous amounts of money to deal with this. Counties only have so much from taxes, and it’s not enough to deal with the problem created,” he said from his Bozeman office Wednesday.
Attorney General Tim Fox announced late last year that Montana would file suit against Purdue Pharma for creating thousands of addicts in Montana by allegedly concealing the dangers of opioid drug OxyContin.
That is a separate lawsuit.
According to the complaint, the Montana Forensic Science division reported that, from 2014 to 2017, they found opioids in 1,643 autopsy toxicology tests.
The Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners voted against joining the lawsuit in a 7-4 vote last month.
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| Parkersburg, WV
By WTAP (NBC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919890?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: wood county commisoners say the opioid cris weighs heavily on thier minds. that's one of the reasons they're considering joing a statewide lawsuitover the issue. attorneys from the firm filing the lawsuit discussed it with the commission thursday morning. the suit would try to recover money spent fighting the opioid problem in west virginia. it names several drug companies and armacies as defendants. it was filed in marshall county, "there's been many ideas bandied around at this point. i don't think anybody has a silver bullet. but it's our hope that we can positively contrite to that effort, and see that this problem is somehow remediated over the next few years." commission president blair couch says the commissioners expect to make a decision monday about joing the suit. a dozen west virginia counties already have done so.
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Feb 23, 2018 | Flint, MI
By WJRT (ABC)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919900?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: isabella county is joining other municipalities across the state hoping to hold big drug company accountable. tuesday, the opioid epidemic was did declared a public nuisance and voted to join in on a federal lawsuit. attorneys leading the charge say that manufacturers deceptively marketed pain bills pills back in the 90s which fueled the epidemic we're dealing with today. the county hopes to refuel some of the costs dealing with opioidaddiction.
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Feb 23, 2018 | Seattle, WA
By KONG (KONG)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919903?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: u.s. senator maria cantwell addressed washington's struggle with opioid abuse in seattle and spoke about her legislation to fight this crisis. itth it would strengthen penalties. it also increases transparency for existing federal oversight of opioid manufacturing and also, advertising. >> we want to have a comprehensive reporting system. and, we want the opioid manufacturers to understand there are going to be huge financial penalties for failing to report. >> now, 115 americans die from overdoses each day. and 700 people in our state died from an opioid overdose in 2016 alone.
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Feb 22, 2018 | Macon, GA
By WGXA (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919924?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: also knew tonight sumter county has filed a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors. >> raymond: that lawsuits started with seven other companies. the company's roots are presented the addictive risks of opioids. >> nakell: second they fraudulently marketed opioids as a treatment for chronic pain they also then follow federal laws regarding the recording of excessive opioids in certain areas. >> raymond: sumner will behe eighth georgia gcounty to file suit.
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Feb 22, 2018 | Las Vegas, NV
By KVVU (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919945?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: over to north las vegas where city council has hired the eglet prince law firm to file a civil suit to go after big pharma companies that manufacture opioids. the city wants to recover the growing cost of battling opioid addiction through social services, medical treatment and enforcement. north las vegas joins 100 other municipalities who are going after pharmaceutical companies for their marketing and the way they pushed opioids. robert eglet a senior partner in the law firm says north las vegas will not pay a dime in legal fees and that the law firm will cap contingent fees at 25%. robert eglet has a track record of successuly going after big pharacuetical companies. this lawsuit is not expected to create any conflict with an ongoing multi state investigation into the way the big drug companies have promoted opioids over the years.
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Feb 22, 2018 | Lafayette, LA
By KADN (Fox)
Video Link: http://app.criticalmention.com/app/#clip/view/32919960?token=834fb460-67ac-45ed-8c25-b6c642297956
Rough Transcript: attorney general jeff landry has taken the reins of louisiana's lawsuit against opioid manufacturers. landry and governor john bel edwards announcing the move yesterday. the two had been at loggerheads over which office should pursue the suit. the suit accuses pharmaceutical compans of flooding the state with the powerful painkillers while downplaying their highly addictive nature.
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