York County Now A Part Of The Fight Against Opioid

York County Now A Part Of The Fight Against Opioid

Introduction

York County joined statewide and national fight against opioid companies for the devastating opioid crisis. A 283-page complaint blaming Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, and other opioid manufacturers for the epidemic was originally filed on November 21, 2018, in York County Superior Court, and was recently transferred to federal court.

The County's lawsuit joins about 1,500 nationwide lawsuits and 13 others filed by Maine counties and municipalities' lawsuits. These lawsuits, which include cities of Portland, Bangor, and Lewiston, were already a part of multidistrict litigation and transferred to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, where Judge Dan Polster overlooks the National Prescription Opiate Litigation (MDL No. 2804; In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation). According to the lawsuit, the negligent actions of the defendants caused York County to dole out exorbitant amounts of money to deal with the opioid crisis. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants' deceptive and unfair marketing tactics since the 1990s, reversed the understanding of opioids. There are staggering statistics included in the lawsuit like the health care costs borne by the state due to opioid abuse in 2015, which was more than $92 million, and costs involved in the foster care system in Maine for 1,000 infants born with a defect.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of opioid deaths increased by 125%, and nearly 55 opioid overdose deaths were reported in York County between 2009 and 2015. In the first six months of 2017, 20% of the total overdoses in the state happened in York County.

Lawsuits filed by 37 cities and two towns in the Connecticut state against Purdue Pharma and two dozen other drug companies were dismissed by Judge Thomas Moukawsher of the Hartford Superior Court. The jury considered the lawsuits as "ordinary civil cases" seeking damages for "indirect harm" from the opioid crisis throughout the nation. The lawsuits were not even government enforcement actions, which is another reason for the dismissal.

It is the first time that the government lawsuits in the recent rounds of litigation against opioid manufacturers are dismissed. Bridgeport, New Haven, and Waterbury are the plaintiffs in the case. Drugmakers request to dismiss claims brought by local governments and other groups were rejected by an Ohio federal judge in the last month. The Connecticut-based company, Purdue Pharma, denied all the allegations in lawsuits that claimed the company indulged in false marketing to improve sales of its painkiller drug OxyContin.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 50,000 Americans died due to a drug overdose in 2017, and the toll has been spiking for two decades.

Earlier, Superior Judge Mary M. Johnston issued an opinion on February 4, 2019, allowing Delaware Attorney General to pursue claims against drug manufacturers who downplayed the addictive nature of opioids.

Manufacturers and distributors of opioids were accused of fraudulent marketing tactics to sell the painkillers for unapproved uses, as per a 124-page complaint. The lawsuit seeks to reimburse the costs incurred in health care, the criminal justice system, social services, welfare, and education systems.

The lawsuit seeks to reimburse the costs incurred in health care, the criminal justice system, social services, welfare, and education systems. Opioid caused the largest number of deaths last year, as per the report issued by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).