Two Miami law firms filed a statewide class action on behalf of Medicaid managed care groups to recoup alleged losses from the opioid crisis.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Miami-Dade Circuit Court aims to hold opioid manufacturers, distributors and marketers liable for health care costs related to painkiller addiction.

“The defendants have earned billions of dollars peddling their addictive and life-threatening opioid drugs while systematically and intentionally misleading doctors, hospitals, patients, federal and state regulators and health insurers about the true risks of opioid addiction,” claims the lawsuit filed by The Ferraro Law Firm and MSP Recovery Law Firm.

MSP Recovery Law Firm represents MSP Recovery LLC, a technology company with a business model that revolves around collecting and analyzing enormous sets of Medicaid and Medicare claims data. The plaintiffs attorneys believe the data will allow them to trace patients over time and link opioid prescriptions to later costs stemming from overdoses or rehabilitation.

“This is the type of thing you couldn't do 20 years ago because the technology wasn't there,” said Miami attorney Jim Ferraro, whose firm teamed up with MSP Recovery Law Firm on the case. The Ferraro Law Firm is best known for a streak of multimillion-dollar verdicts in asbestos cases.

The firms are also involved in the federal opioid multidistrict litigation consolidated in Ohio. But they decided to bring the Medicaid managed care organization case in state court for simplicity's sake. One of the defendants, Teva Pharmaceuticals subsidiary Anda Inc., is based in Weston.

“We'd much rather be in state court and avoid the feeding frenzy that's going on in federal court,” Ferraro said. “We'll have more leverage for Floridians by doing this.”

The plaintiffs are assignees of Medicaid managed care plans and providers that contract with Florida. Since 2014, the state has required its approximately 4 million Medicaid beneficiaries to enroll with a managed care organization. That means the risks associated with opioid-addicted patients fall on those organizations, not the state, said MSP Recovery Law Firm attorney John Ruiz.

“The real losses are being sustained by the private sector,” said Ruiz, who was known for his Spanish-language TV program “La Ley con John H. Ruiz.”

The attorneys declined to estimate the potential damages they'll seek in the litigation. But they said their clients have absorbed “the vast majority” of about $2 billion in opioid-related health care costs billed through the Florida Medicaid system since 2011.

The state's Agency for Health Care Administration is seeking to cut back on opioid prescriptions in the Medicaid program, announcing last week that it would limit the prescriptions to a maximum seven-day supply.

South Florida has been hit particularly hard by the opioid crisis. Last year, the Miami-Dade Opioid Addiction Task Force reported the county saw 229 deaths from opioid poisoning in 2016, more than double the approximate 100 deaths recorded from 2000 to 2015, according to the lawsuit.

The defendants are the same major drug manufacturers and distributors involved in the MDL. They include manufacturers Teva Pharmaceuticals, Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Endo Health and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen.

The distributors referred a request for comment to their national trade organization, the Healthcare Distribution Alliance.

“The misuse and abuse of prescription opioids is a complex public health challenge that requires a collaborative and systemic response that engages all stakeholders,” alliance spokesman John Parker said. “Given our role, the idea that distributors are responsible for the number of opioid prescriptions written defies common sense and lacks understanding of how the pharmaceutical supply chain actually works and is regulated. Those bringing lawsuits would be better served addressing the root causes rather than trying to redirect blame through litigation.”

Manufacturers also promised to fight the litigation.

“We are deeply troubled by the prescription and illicit opioid abuse crisis, and are dedicated to being part of the solution,” Purdue Pharma said in a statement. “As a company grounded in science, we must balance patient access to FDA-approved medicines, while working collaboratively to solve this public health challenge. … We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”

Teva said it works to educate communities and health care providers about the dangers of opioids, comply with relevant regulations and develop non-opioid pain treatments.

“Teva is committed to the appropriate use of opioid medicines, and we recognize the critical public health issues impacting communities across the U.S. as a result of illegal drug use as well as the misuse and abuse of opioids that are available legally by prescription,” the company said in a statement.

Endo declined to comment, and Johnson & Johnson did not respond to a media inquiry by deadline.

Along with Ruiz and Ferraro, the plaintiffs lawyers are James Ferraro Jr., Janpaul Portal and David Jagolinzer of The Ferraro Law Firm and Frank Quesada and John Cleary of MSP Recovery Law Firm.