Opioid Lawsuit Settlement Update

Jinks Crow

Jul 28, 20222 min read

As you may know, there have been some major developments in opioid litigation. Recently, the court managing the litigation and settlements in Alabama appointed three lawyers to a Local Government Executive Committee to address the allocation of settlements amongst the different governmental claimants. Attorney Christy Crow was one of those appointed attorneys. We are honored to have a seat at the table working with those who are seeking to address the devastating losses that our state has sustained as a result of the opioid crisis.

Specifically, the Local Government Executive Committee is charged with the following:

Working with the State of Alabama and its attorneys toward finalizing the state’s settlement with Endo, Jonson & Johnson, and McKesson, including efforts to secure the maximum local government participation in the settlement;
Assisting as needed counsel for the litigation local governments with applying the Endo, Johnson & Johnson, and McKesson settlement, allocations, and approved uses for opioid funds, as well as assisting with the same for any future opioid settlement the State of Alabama may negotiate with other opioid supply chain participants;
Identifying and engaging experts and/or vendors as needed to calculate, facilitate, and distribute the Alabama local government portion of any opioid settlement, such as the Special Master already hired by Petitioners and an accounting or similar firm to take receipt of and distribute settlement proceeds, and working with the AG’s Office to achieve maximum participation in the Endo, Jonson & Jonson, and McKesson Settlements and any future opioid settlements;
Periodically advising counsel for the litigating local governments regarding Case Management Order obligations as Petitioners have already been doing; and
Serving as a liaison between the state and its legal team and counsel for the litigating local governments to provide information as may be necessary to further the state’s opioid litigation for the benefit of all Alabamians.

Claims against Purdue Pharma, Mallinckrodt, and Insys remain in their bankruptcy cases.

States, counties, and municipalities throughout the country have filed suits against the manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies involved in the opioid supply chain seeking to be compensated for the damages sustained (and paid by taxpayers) as the result of the opioid crisis.
Those lawsuits have been combined for consolidated pretrial proceedings by the panel on multi-district litigation into an MDL (muti-district litigation) in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Some significant settlements have been reached thus far, including a $276 million settlement by the State of Alabama against Endo Pharmaceutical, Johnson & Johnson, and McKesson.
Fifty percent of that settlement will go to Alabama’s governmental entities that have made claims. The settlement funds are to be used for remediating the harms caused by the opioid crisis in Alabama. We have been involved in representing several governmental entities in Alabama.