Palm Beach County Sues Drugmakers Over Opioid Crisis
“This case is about one thing: corporate greed,” the complaint said. “Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of Palm Beach County consumers.”
April 09, 2018 at 03:05 PM
3 minute read
Palm Beach County has file an opioid crisis lawsuit against the pharmaceutical industry with help from outside lawyers in Miami and New York.
The 266-page complaint filed Thursday in Palm Beach Circuit Court named 29 defendants and alleges they downplayed the risks associated with their drugs in marketing them.
The Ferraro Law Firm in Miami and New York's Napoli Shkolnik and Stull, Stull & Brody filed suit along with the county attorney's office.
“This case is about one thing: corporate greed,” the complaint said. “Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of Palm Beach County consumers.”
The county is seeking to recover damages for use of public resources to fight the opioid crisis.
The lawsuit focuses on the growing problem of people becoming addicted to prescription painkillers, which often escalates to abuse of street drugs such as heroin. Palm Beach County has been recognized as a center of the opioid crisis, in part because of the growth of the drug rehabilitation industry in the region.
With varying degrees of treatment success, the county is ranked fourth in the nation for the number of overdose deaths per 100,000 residents, driving up costs for first responders and the medical examiner's office. Addiction also has driven up the homeless population and overwhelmed the state foster care system with 45 percent of county admissions attributed to parental drug abuse is the first eight months of 2017.
“Palm Beach County spends millions of dollars each year to provide and pay for health care, services, pharmaceutical care and other necessary services and programs on behalf of residents,” the lawsuit said.
“It is about time that these defendants answer for the huge adverse economic impact that they have caused and for which they are responsible to the people of Palm Beach County,” Jim Ferraro of The Ferraro Law Firm, said in the news release.
“We are moving fast to bring justice to the people of the county who have had to carry this burden for too many years,” Hunter J. Shkolnik of Napoli Shkolnik said in the release.
Opioid-related deaths in Palm Beach County have skyrocketed in recent years, the lawyers said. Palm Beach County reported the largest number of heroin overdose deaths in Florida with 268 in 2015 and 552 in 2016. In 2017, the death toll climbed to nearly 600.
The lawsuit resembles others filed in other jurisdictions, many of which have been moved to multidistrict litigation in Ohio federal court. Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said after filing a similar complaint that he expects it to be moved to Cleveland to become part of the MDL.
Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, is named as a defendant in the lawsuits. In an emailed response, the company said it was “deeply troubled by the opioid crisis, and we are dedicated to being part of the solution.” Addressing the lawsuit, the statement said, “We vigorously deny these allegations and look forward to the opportunity to present our defense.”
Palm Beach County Mayor Melissa McKinlay issued a statement saying the lawsuit was an opportunity to say “enough is enough.”
“The thousands of Palm Beach County families struck by this epidemic deserve to hold someone accountable for deceptive, unscrupulous practices involving opioid dispensing, advertising and prescribing,” McKinlay said.
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View All
Trump's Lawyers Speak Out: 'The President Had the Confidence to Retain Me'
Trending Stories
- 1The Importance of Plaintiffs Not Letting Defendants Dictate Settlement Tax Strategies
- 2A New State Law Is a Positive Step Forward for Judicial Security in Pennsylvania—But More Action Is Needed
- 3Does the FAAAA Preempt State Negligence Claims Against Freight Brokers?
- 4People in the News—Nov. 14, 2024—Cummins, McNees
- 5County Reps: Appeal Likely Following State Court's Sales Tax Ruling for Retail Marijuana
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250
