OPIOID LAWSUIT
Claims county will get insufficient payment
Zappala sues Shapiro over drug company settlement.
Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. has filed a lawsuit against the state Attorney General’s office to stop a national opioid settlement between multiple states and three pharmaceutical companies.
The suit, filed Thursday in Commonwealth Court, alleges the $26 billion settlement guarantees no money for Allegheny County and will provide insufficient payment based on the approximately 3,400 opioid deaths that have occurred in the county since 2015.
Additionally, Mr. Zappala’s complaint claims Attorney General Josh Shapiro did not have the authority to make the deal on behalf of the county. A similar suit was filed last week by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who claimed his litigation could bring in more money for the city and that the attorney general was essentially stripping away the city’s lawsuit.
Mr. Zappala’s complaint makes a similar claim. “The attorney general has no authority to unilaterally moot or otherwise settle the cases of district attorneys,” it reads.
A spokesperson for Mr. Shapiro’s office said the proposed settlement is positioned to bring in $1 billion over 18 years to the commonwealth to fight the opioid epidemic.
“To delay this proposed settlement for risky, uncertain litigation for an outcome that could be less than what is already proposed is unfair to Western Pennsylvanians who need these funds now,” Molly Stieber, the AG’s spokeswoman, wrote in an email.
“This is a copycat of a Philadelphia lawsuit that misleads Pennsylvanians and would rob Allegheny County residents of their fair share of a billion dollars to fight the opioid epidemic,” she continued. “The DA’s plan is to start years of risky, drawn-out litigation that would deny Western Pennsylvanians the treatment options they need now, with no realistic plan for success. Meanwhile, the proposed settlement could provide an influx of $232 million to Pennsylvanians by next year.”
The deal in place would forbid Johnson & Johnson from producing any opioids for at least 10 years,
and the companies AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — referred to as the “Big 3” in Mr. Zappala’s suit — would have to put prescribing information into a system that would be used to stem the overuse of pills.
According to Mr. Zappala’s complaint, he was one of many district attorneys in the commonwealth to bring action against pharmaceutical companies for their role in the opioid crisis.
“The opioid addiction crisis has ravaged Allegheny County, the commonwealth and the nation, causing breathtaking numbers of fatal overdoses...” one portion of the 24-page complaint reads.
“Much of the blame for this crisis falls at the feet of opioid manufacturers who marketed and promoted dangerous and addictive opioids, which should have only been used to treat shortterm acute pain, as being suitable to treat long-term chronic pain, causing a catastrophic increase in opioid addiction.”
His office in February filed its own lawsuit against the Big 3 under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law. Prosecutors in Philadelphia, Erie, Westmoreland and other counties have filed similar claims, but the AG’s case could render those suits moot, Mr. Zappala claimed.
The AG, meanwhile, never filed a lawsuit against the Big 3, Mr. Zappala’s complaint says, instead announcing in 2017 that he was among a group of state attorneys general that were investigating the pharmaceutical companies and sent letters to them while pledging to do more.
In 2019, Mr. Shapiro’s office announced a deal made with five opioid companies, including the Big 3 and two manufacturers, but that settlement was ultimately rejected. It was another two years before Mr. Shapiro brought forth details of the current settlement on July 21.
“The Attorney General’s settlement language unlawfully attempts to release the Big 3 from all liability they may face in the Coordinated Cases, including the Allegheny County DA Action and other cases filed in the name of the Commonwealth by other District Attorneys,” the complaint reads.
Mr. Zappala is asking the court to declare that the AG’s office has no authority in the matter and that it cannot take over the county’s claims against the companies.