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Law: For the Defense
Attorney Amy Furness is defending the opioid manufacturer of Percocet
Stating Its Case
The state is seeking an undisclosed amount of monetary damages from drug manufacturers and distributors for the opioid epidemic. An excerpt from the state’s lawsuit:
“Opioid use has had tragic consequences for communities across Florida, and the state has been forced to expend enormous sums as a result of the opioid crisis. The crisis has a cause: Defendants cooperated to sell and ship ever-increasing quantities of opioids into Florida. To create newfound demand for opioids, defendants used unfair and misleading marketing — including the use of front groups, paid ‘opinion leaders’ and continuing medical education courses (CMEs) — to convince both doctors and patients that opioids could safely be prescribed for common ailments that cause chronic pain. To meet the artificially inflated demand, defendants sold, shipped and dispensed opioids in quantities that could not possibly have been medically justified and in the face of clear evidence that opioids were being diverted for illegitimate uses. Defendants’ plan succeeded, and they recorded multibillion-dollar profits as a result.”
Opioid Overview
- 16.3: Number of opioid deaths per 100,000 people in Florida in 2017
- 14.6: Number of opioid deaths per 100,000 people in the U.S. in 2017
- 60.9: Number of opioid prescriptions written for every 100 people in Florida in 2017
- 2,320: Number of babies born with neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS) to Medicaid recipients in Florida in 2016
- 54%: Increase in the number of NOWS cases in Florida from 2012 to 2016
A Wave of Opioid Lawsuits
Nationwide, more than 1,500 local governments and other entities such as hospitals have sued drugmakers and distributors seeking to recoup the costs of fighting opioid addiction.
Most lawsuits have been bundled together into a multi-district litigation (MDL) in Ohio. The MDL, which includes a number of complaints filed by Florida cities and counties, is to be heard in the fall in federal court in Cleveland.
Meanwhile, some states, such as Florida, New York and Massachusetts, have pursued their own cases.
In March, Oklahoma reached a $270-million settlement with Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin. Purdue agreed to pay $103 million to establish an addiction treatment and research center at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa, provide $20 million in medicine to the center and reimburse cities and counties for $72 million in litigation costs. Purdue’s owners, the Sackler family, also pledged $75 million to the center.
Read more in Florida Trend's July issue.
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