Opioids in bottle Credit: Phil Lowe/Shutterstock.com

In the wake of Purdue Pharma's reported tentative settlement of opioid lawsuits with more than 2,500 U.S. state and municipal governments, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has sued the family that founded the drugmaker at the center of the addiction crisis.

Shapiro announced the lawsuit early Thursday morning, saying he sued the Sackler family, alleging they are personally liable for the opioid crisis because they "directed, controlled and participated" in a "deadly campaign of deception."

"The Sackler family seems to be concerned with only one thing—keeping their hands on the ill-gotten gains they made while pumping our commonwealth full of OxyContin," Shapiro said in the announcement. "The Sacklers' mission to avoid accountability and transparency stops here. The lawsuit I filed on behalf of all Pennsylvanians seeks to require this family of billionaires, who orchestrated opioids into as many doctor's offices, pharmacies and medicine cabinets as possible, takes responsibility for the pain they caused."

The announcement indicated that the lawsuit had been filed under seal.

On Wednesday, Purdue Pharma announced a proposed settlement with thousands of cities, counties and about half the states.

According to Law.com's coverage of the proposal, the settlement's details remain unclear, but some reports have indicated that the Sackler family, who founded Purdue, would provide $3 billion over seven years, and that another $7 billion to $9 billion could come from future sales of OxyContin, its prescription opiate, as well as drugs designed to treat opioid addiction.

Not all attorneys general, however, seemed ready to settle their claims. New York and Connecticut both recently indicated they were hesitant to sign onto the proposed accord, and Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings also sued the Sackler family earlier this week.