US opioid crisis: new legal strategy aims to protect communities

The opioid epidemic in the United States continues to kill people and hurt communities.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against prescription drug manufacturers and distributors, accusing them of fueling this health crisis. In a new plan proposed on Friday, every community in the country would be able to participate in negotiating billions of dollars in settlements against these companies under one umbrella.

The proposal came in a motion filed in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio. Currently, 1,850 lawsuits – largely by local governments – are pending. The lawsuits are seeking to hold companies – including Purdue Pharma LP, the maker of the drug OxyContin – responsible for opioid abuse.

For the purpose of settlement talks, the plaintiffs’ lawyers sought to certify a class that would include every US county and municipality – and that would give these local governments the right to vote on accepting any legal deal with a pharmaceutical company.

The lawyers say creating the class of 5,000 counties and 19,500 municipalities would fit with calls by US District Judge Dan Aaron Polster, who presides over the cases, for a comprehensive settlement that addresses this national health epidemic.

The drug companies have resisted settling lawsuits. They are worried about settling with some cities when more could later sue, said Joe Rice, who represents the plaintiffs and is a lawyer at the firm Motley Rice.

“The aim is to form a united group vested with the power to negotiate, vote on and deliver finality if there is an opportunity to negotiate a settlement,” he said.

Rice acknowledged that some defendants may oppose the proposal because it could expose them to greater liabilities. Many local governments have also chosen to not sue thus far and could decide to opt out.

Opioid painkillers were involved in a record 47,600 overdose deaths in 2017, reports the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In more than 2,000 lawsuits nationally, state and local governments have alleged that drugmakers such as Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd overstated the benefits of opioids while downplaying their addictive risks in marketing campaigns.

The lawsuits also accuse distributors including McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health of failing to halt suspicious opioid orders.

The companies deny wrongdoing and say they cannot be found to be the cause of the overdose epidemic. Plaintiffs claim it could cost about $480bn to address the opioid problem in the US, according to defence court filings made in April.

Most cases are before Polster, while others are in state courts, including a lawsuit by Oklahoma’s attorney general against Johnson & Johnson that is now on trial after the state reached settlements worth $270m with Purdue and $85m with Teva.

The first trial before Polster in Ohio is set to begin in October.