Pulaski County joins opioids suit but still pursues own case

Every county in Arkansas is now part of a landmark lawsuit that seeks relief from opioid manufacturers after Pulaski County, the last holdout, agreed to join the case last week.

The county is still retaining two law firms to pursue its own case against people and companies that marketed, prescribed or sold prescription drugs containing opioids.

“Opioids” refers to a class of drugs. Heroin and fentanyl qualify, as do pain relievers obtained by prescription like oxycodone, codeine and morphine, according to the National Drug Institute.

The lawsuit was originally filed March 15 in Crittenden County Circuit Court with 72 counties, and 15 cities, as co-plaintiffs.

Drew, Jefferson and Pulaski counties weren’t included in the original filing. Drew and Jefferson counties joined in late March, said Chris Villines, executive director of the Association of Arkansas Counties.

Pulaski County, the most populated county in the state, joined Friday. Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville Cabot, Maumelle, Sherwood and Cammack Village had already signed on.

A Pulaski County spokesman did not respond to questions earlier in the week as to why the county wasn’t yet involved in the case. A Pulaski County attorney also said he could not comment.

Villines said he could not comment on that question, either.

Chief executives for Drew

County and Jefferson County were unreachable for comment.

More than 50 drug manufacturers are named as defendants in the lawsuit, including Purdue Pharma, Endo Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson, as well as distributors, physicians and retailers.

The basic claim is that these entities concealed, or misrepresented, the harmful and addictive properties of the medications they made. As a result, Arkansans suffered.

The counties and cities involved are asking a jury to rule that these manufacturers, retailers, prescribers and distributors should pay for treatment.

Baxter County Sheriff John Montgomery said he wanted his county to get involved because he’s witnessed a rise in drug abuse and drug-related crimes over the past several years.

“Frankly, we just don’t have the funds for treatment centers and the many other things it’s going to take to remedy this problem,” he said.

In statements to other media outlets, Johnson & Johnson has said it promotes its drugs responsibly.

In a statement on its website, Purdue says it has a “responsibility to join the fight” against opioid abuse and that various approaches are needed.

This case is different from a federal opioid lawsuit filed by the Association of Arkansas Counties in December and from a case Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge announced Thursday.

The federal lawsuit is now part of a larger effort called the National Prescription Opiate Litigation. The group litigation was transferred to the Northern District of Ohio.

Rutledge’s lawsuit was filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, also against Purdue, Endo and Johnson & Johnson.

But the case championed by both the Association of Arkansas Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League is unique because it presents a united front, Villines said. A similar approach hasn’t been attempted in any other state, he said.

“It’s not only a county problem or only a city problem. It’s a blurred problem,” he said.

The association and the league began fielding interest from county judges, sheriffs and mayors last fall. Letters describing the terms of engagement for the case were then sent to municipalities.

Cory Watson Attorneys, Reddick Moss Attorneys, Wyly-Rommel PLLC and the Arkansas Municipal League/ Municipal League Defense Program will be counsel for the case, the letter says.

If a settlement is reached, or a monetary judgment given, the attorneys will get 25 percent of that money, the letter says. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, they’ll get nothing.

Costs also will be subtracted from the total amount won. For example, if it’s determined that a city is owed $1 million, then $250,000 would be paid to the attorneys.

Then, the costs accrued by the attorneys for actually working the case would be subtracted from the remaining $750,000. What’s left would be awarded to the city.

On Friday, counsel for Pulaski County told the counties association to include the county as a co-plaintiff in the case, an association spokesman said. An amended complaint will be filed this week to include all new parties.

That agreement doesn’t conflict with an existing contract between Pulaski County, Motley Rice LLC and McDaniel, Richardson & Calhoun PLLC, Pulaski County spokesman Cozetta Jones said.

In February, Pulaski County retained the national law firm and the law firm of former Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel to investigate and litigate its own opioid case, which the county is doing “aggressively,” Jones said in an email.

The contract says attorneys will be paid 25 percent of the total settlement or money recovered.

If no money is awarded to Pulaski County, the county doesn’t owe attorney costs or fees, the contract says.

To explain how Pulaski County can be a co-plaintiff and pursue its own litigation over the same issue, Jones used the example of three passengers in the same car.

If that car gets into a wreck, all three people can hire personal lawyers and be co-plaintiffs in one suit. Similar injuries, same defendant, she said in an email.

As for the apparent injuries of the opioid problem in Arkansas, Villines cited federal data.

For every 100 people, 114.6 initial and refill prescriptions were dispensed through retail pharmacies in Arkansas, giving the state the second-highest opioid prescribing rate in America, according to 2016 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“The effects vary from local to local, but no one is immune,” said Jerome Tapley, an attorney in the statewide case.

In addition to all 75 counties joining, more than 210 cities are now part of the case, and that number could still grow, Villines said.

“Everything about this lawsuit seems to evolve every day.”