Orange may join lawsuit against drugmakers
Saddled with the costs of a deadly opioid epidemic, Orange County is looking to join the growing number of cities and counties fighting drug-makers in court.
Neighboring Lake, Osceola and Seminole counties and Sanford and Oviedo already have enlisted lawyers to challenge pharmaceutical giants Johnson & Johnson, Purdue Pharma, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and other opioid-makers, alleging they put profits over people in marketing campaigns for addictive and dangerous painkillers.Orlando hasn’t joined in.
Without discussion, Orange County commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to hire the Romano Law Group of West Palm Beach for the purpose of weighing the risks and rewards of a legal challenge in federal court. The Romano Law Group also represents Lake and Seminole counties in lawsuits against drug-makers and pharmacies.
“The opioid epidemic has severely affected residents of our community and has put tremendous hardships on families involved in this crisis,” Mayor Jerry Demings said.
The District 9 Medical Examiner’s Office has counted more than 1,000 opiate-related deaths in Orange County since 2016, including 339 in 2018.
Through the first six months of 2019, the office has counted 102 more opiate-related deaths in the county, a figure likely to rise as post-mortem toxicology results are completed. The forensic tests, which determine what drugs — and how much — were present at death, lag a few months behind an autopsy, Medical Examiner Joshua D. Stephany said.
In a memo to Demings and commissioners, procurement manager Carrie Mathes said the opioid death toll is just one cost of the epidemic to Orange County.
“All areas of the county have been affected — from babies born addicted to opioids, to children placed in foster care after losing parents to overdoses, to chronic addiction, to lost job productivity, to unemployment and increased spending on emergency medical services,” Mathes wrote, listing expenses the county is forced to cover.
The memo didn’t calculate a total estimated cost.
The county also has paid to provide first-responders with Naloxone, an injectible medication that immediately blocks the deadly effects of opioids in overdose cases.
In pending lawsuits, lawyers for cities and counties are seeking compensation from drug-makers and pharmacies for the millions of tax dollars spent on 911 dispatching, training paramedics and deputies to handle overdoses, medical equipment to treat patients, ambulance runs to emergency rooms, handling investigations and incarcerations.
“The defendants’ conduct has created a public nuisance and a blight,” according to the lawsuits’ allegations, which drug-makers deny.
If the lawsuits are successful, local governments could recover some costs and perhaps damages from the companies and/or their insurers.
Orange County would likely negotiate a contingency fee contract with limited expenses with their counsel.
“This case arises from the worst man-made epidemic in modern medical history — the misuse, abuse, diversion and over-prescription of opioids,” lawyers representing Seminole and Lake counties alleged in a federal court filing in June. “Manufacturers and distributors alike acted without regard for the lives that would be trampled in pursuit of profit.”
The lawsuit alleges drug companies and pharmacies “made blockbuster profits.”
Lawyers for governments and for drug companies are closely watching a pending case in Oklahoma.
In a state court there, a judge is weighing a possible $17.2 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson, which is best known for making baby powder but is accused of flooding the plains with opioids.
State lawyers allege the drug company created a crisis that killed more than 6,000 Oklahomans, destroyed families and wreaked havoc on communities.
In response to the human devastation, the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office is planning to open a drug-assessment center that will be the first of its type in Florida to help opioid addicts recover. The center will be housed next to the Criminal Justice Center in Sanford.