Opioids Litigation

Prescription Opioid Drugs Manufacturing, Marketing, Distribution and Sales Practices Litigation

The Opioid Epidemic Ravaging the U.S.

Prescription opioid drugs are estimated to kill upwards of 100 Americans per day — over 36,000 Americans per year. Health services providers pay billions of dollars each year both in payments for unnecessary and harmful prescriptions of the drugs themselves and the costs of treating the diseases and injuries they cause. Accidental drug overdose deaths, of which at least two-thirds are opioid overdoses, are the leading cause of death for Americans under the age of 50. The economic burden caused by opioid abuse in the United States is approximately $78.5 billion, including lost productivity and increased social services, health insurance costs, increased criminal justice presence and strain on judicial resources, and substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation.

Lieff Cabraser partner Richard M. Heimann served as co-lead counsel in the City and County of San Francisco’s successful bellwether litigation against opioid drug distributor Walgreens after all other manufacturer & distributor defendants settled before or during trial.

Our firm was also instrumental in negotiating a proposed $590 million settlement with J&J and three top opioid distributors resolving claims over the companies’ alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic in tribal communities. Together with a previous settlement with the Cherokee Nation, federally recognized tribes will receive a total of $665 million from the pharmaceutical companies involved.

Please note that we are not currently representing individuals injured by the ravages of the nationwide opioid epidemic.

Representatives of Public Funds or Government Entities can use the form on this page to contact a lawyer at Lieff Cabraser about possible representation in opioids litigation, or call Lieff Cabraser partner Paulina do Amaral at 212 355-9500.

Opioid manufacturing and distributing companies systematically and repeatedly disregarded the health and safety of their customers and the public. Charged by law to monitor and report dangerous behavior, they failed to do so in favor of maximizing corporate profits and increasing their market share. Corporate greed and callous indifference to known, serious potential for human suffering have caused this public health crisis. Defendants helped unleash a healthcare crisis that has had far-reaching financial, social, and deadly consequences in this country.

On December 18, 2018, the City Attorney of San Francisco, Dennis Herrera, in conjunction with Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel, filed a federal class action lawsuit on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco against the major pharmaceutical companies and distributors responsible for the manufacturing, transmission, and sale of dangerous, highly addictive and often lethal prescription opioids such as Oxycontin and fentanyl in San Francisco. The lawsuit alleges these companies orchestrated a widespread fraud in which they made billions by deceptively marketing these drugs to the people of San Francisco while representing the drugs as safe and effective, creating thousands upon thousands of addicts. Read a copy of the San Francisco opioids complaint.

Lieff Cabraser was instrumental in negotiating a proposed $590 million settlement with J&J and three top opioid distributors to resolve claims over the companies’ alleged role in fueling the opioid epidemic in tribal communities. Announced on February 1st, the proposed settlement will receive final review from the court later this year. Together with a previous settlement with the Cherokee Nation, federally recognized tribes will receive a total of $665 million from the settling companies.

On November 16, 2018, Lieff Cabraser, along with co-counsel, filed a class action federal RICO lawsuit in Anchorage, Alaska against opioid drug manufacturers and distributors for unnecessary Alaskan Native and American Indian opioid deaths across Alaska. The suit, filed on behalf of the Kenaitze Indian Tribe, the Asa’Carsarmiut Tribe, the Akiak Native Community, the Native Village of Port Heiden, and the Native Village of Afognak, seeks justice for the unprecedented costs and depradations of the opioid drug epidemic across Alaska.

Earlier, on October 30, 2018, Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel filed a similar class action RICO lawsuit in Anchorage on behalf of the Tanana Chiefs Conference, Chugachmiut, the Copper River Native Association, the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation, and Southcentral Foundation against the same group of opiate drug manufacturers and distributorsfor their actions leading to the explosive opioid epidemic across the United States and in the impacted Alaska Native communities. The complaint in the Tanana, et al. suit was amended on November 15, 2018.

On July 6th, 2018, Lieff Cabraser filed a complaint on behalf of Cannon County, Tennessee against prescription opioid distributors and manufacturers to recover taxpayer monies spent combating the opioid epidemic wreaking havoc on the Cannon County community. The complaint, filed in federal court in Tennessee, alleges that the named opiate drug manufacturers and distributors and their agents deliberately and repeatedly violated federal and state law by widely and falsely promoting highly addictive opioids as safe and necessary, all the while concealing the true risks of the drugs. Read a copy of the Cannon County Complaint.

On July 2, 2018, Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel filed a complaint on behalf of the Swinomish Tribe in northwestern Washington alleging that a broad group of manufacturers and distributors of opiate-based drugs concealed important facts about the dangers of opioids and the costs to communities in violation of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The Swinomish Indian Reservation is located on Fidalgo Island in Skagit County, Washington, one of America’s regions hit hardest by the opioid crisis. According to the CDC, Washington is the only Western state that saw a statistically significant increase in overdose death rates between 2014 and 2015. In Skagit County, where the Swinomish Reservation is located, the rate of opioid deaths is even higher than the State average. Read a copy of the Swinomish Tribe’s complaint against opiate manufacturers and distributors.

In late January 2018, Broward County, Florida and the city of Fort Lauderdale, Florida announced that they will be represented by Lieff Cabraser as part of a five-firm team in litigation against pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors for their alleged roles in the devastating and ongoing opioid crisis. On March 12, 2018, Lieff Cabraser filed litigation on behalf of Broward County in federal court in Ohio. The complaint was amended on May 30, 2018. That case has been designed by the MDL court for specialized treatment.

We have also been retained as counsel by the City of Coconut Creek, Florida. No cases have been filed yet. Similarly, Lieff Cabraser entered into formal agreements with Rutherford County, Scott County, and Nashville, Tennessee to explore litigation against pharmaceutical companies and other parties over the pernicious opioid epidemic blighting those areas.

CURRENT LIEFF CABRASER OPIOID LITIGATION CLIENTS

  • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 37 Health & Security Plan
  • Broward County, Florida
  • Cannon County, Tennessee
  • Morgan County, Tennessee
  • Nashville, Tennessee
  • Smith County, Tennessee
  • Rutherford County, Tennessee
  • Swinomish Tribe of Northwestern Washington
  • Yurok Tribe of Northern California

On December 5, 2017, the United States Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation formally approved the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804. Assigned to Judge Daniel Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, the litigation relates to the manufacturing, marketing, distribution and sales practices of prescription opioid drugs by “Big Pharma” drug makers and distributors. On January 3, 2018, Judge Polster named Lieff Cabraser partner Elizabeth Cabraser to the 16-member Plaintiffs’ Executive Committee in the coordinated litigation. Lieff Cabraser also serves on the the Settlement Committee and on the Tribal Committee in the coordinated federal multidistrict opiate litigation.

Plaintiffs in the more than 100 lawsuits involved in the centralization are cities, counties and states that claim the makers of opioid pain medication overstated the drugs’ benefits and downplayed their risks while marketing them to doctors. The aggregated action includes suits against drug distributors, which many of the various governments say failed to monitor and report suspicious drug orders.

Defendants include Purdue Pharma, Cephalon, Teva Pharmaceutical, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco Inc., Endo Health Solutions, Mallinckrodt, Allergan, Actavis, Watson Pharmaceuticals, Insys Therapeutics, AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation, Cardinal Health, and additional affiliated businesses and entities.

The actions variously allege that manufacturers of prescription opioid medications overstated the benefits and downplayed the risks of the use of their opioids and aggressively marketed (directly and through key opinion leaders) these drugs to physicians and/or that the distributors failed to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse and report suspicious orders of prescription opiates. The coordinated actions involve common factual questions about the manufacturing and distributor defendants’ knowledge of and conduct regarding the alleged diversion of these prescription opiates, as well as the manufacturers’ alleged improper marketing of such drugs.

Lieff Cabraser represents the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 37 Health & Security Plan (“DC 37”) in the litigation. DC 37 is a non-profit health, self-funded, and welfare benefit plan covering public sector employees, retirees and their families. It is based in New York City, and is the City’s largest public employee union, covering approximately 125,000 active union members from 51 local unions as well as 50,000 retirees and their families—totaling over 300,000 lives. Members covered by DC 37’s benefit plan work in almost every agency in New York City including but not limited to the City’s police and fire departments, hospitals, schools, libraries, social service centers, water treatment facilities, and city colleges. DC 37’s case alleges the creation of a conspiracy and conduct of an illegal enterprise to expand the market for opioids, and seeks class action status for a class defined as:

All health insurance companies, third-party administrators, health maintenance organizations, self-funded health and welfare benefit plans, third-party payors and any other health benefit providers, in the United States of America and its territories, who have, from the inception of Defendants’ course of allegedly RICO-violative conduct as alleged herein, through a date to be established by the Court (such as the date of approval of class notice), paid or incurred costs for prescription opioids manufactured, marketed, sold, or distributed by the Defendants, for purposes other than resale.

On March 13, 2018, Lieff Cabraser and co-counsel filed a complaint on behalf of the Yurok Tribe in rural Northern California alleging that a wide range of opiate-based drug manufacturers and distributors concealed important facts about the dangers of opioids and the costs to communities in violation of the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The Yurok Reservation, located in one of only a handful of places where the U.S. opioid crisis initially took root, occupies land in rural Northern California’s Humboldt and Del Norte Counties. Humboldt County, one of the first counties in the entire nation to see lawfully produced prescription painkillers diverted for clandestine purposes, has had crisis-level overdose rates for over a decade. You can read a copy of the Yurok Tribe’s complaint against opiate drug manufacturers and distributors.

Morgan County, Tennessee Lawsuit

On January 22, 2019, Lieff Cabraser filed a lawsuit on behalf of Morgan County, Tennessee against  manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids to recover taxpayer money spent combating the opioid epidemic eroding the Morgan County community. The complaint, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee, alleges named opiate drug distributors and manufacturers made repeated, deliberate violations of federal and state law by widely and falsely promoting highly addictive opioids as safe and necessary, while concealing the true dangers of the pernicious drugs.

On January 22, 2019, Lieff Cabraser filed a lawsuit on behalf of Morgan County, Tennessee against  manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids to recover taxpayer money spent combating the opioid epidemic eroding the Morgan County community. The complaint, filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Tennessee, alleges named opiate drug distributors and manufacturers made repeated, deliberate violations of federal and state law by widely and falsely promoting highly addictive opioids as safe and necessary, while concealing the true dangers of the pernicious drugs.

On February 26th, 2018, Lieff Cabraser filed a lawsuit on behalf of Rutherford County, Tennessee against prescription opioid manufacturers and distributors to recover taxpayer money spent to combat the opioid epidemic wreaking havoc on the Rutherford County community. The complaint, filed in federal court in Tennessee, alleges that the named opiate drug manufacturers and distributors and their agents deliberately and repeatedly violated federal and state law by widely and falsely promoting highly addictive opioids as safe and necessary, all the while concealing the true risks of the drugs. Read a copy of the Rutherford County Complaint.

On December 22, 2017, Lieff Cabraser filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee against opioid manufacturers seeking justice and restitution for Nashville’s ongoing battle against the opioid crisis that has killed over 200 residents in 2017 alone. The suit seeks the recovery of taxpayer money and resources spent to combat the opioid epidemic wreaking havoc on the Nashville community. Read a copy of the Nashville and Davidson County Complaint.

“Our city has been devastated by opioid addiction and all its related harms,” notes Lieff Cabraser partner Mark Chalos. “What we have seen in Nashville and throughout our region, is millions of pills being sold in communities where there aren’t millions of people. It is time the opioid manufacturers and distributors are held accountable for their wrongful conduct that has destroyed families and cost untold millions of taxpayer dollars in Nashville, across Tennessee, and throughout the U.S.”

The capitol of Tennessee, Nashville is the 24th largest city in the U.S. with a population of nearly 700,000. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home to numerous colleges and universities, including world-renowned Vanderbilt University (2014 NCAA Baseball Champions). Nashville’s legendary venues include country music’s Ryman Auditorium, The Grand Ole Opry House, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum.

In addition to money damages, the lawsuit seeks a court order against the named pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors prohibiting them from engaging in the unlawful conduct detailed across the complaint, including over-promotion and over-supply of opioids in and around Nashville, as well as the creation of an abatement fund for the purpose of righting the wrongs created by the Defendants and their opioid catastrophe.

On December 18, 2017, Lieff Cabraser filed a lawsuit against a similar set of defendant entities on behalf of Smith County, Tennessee. The lawsuit advances claims for racketeering, conspiracy, mail and wire fraud, public nuisance, negligence, and unjust enrichment, and seeks all legal and equitable relief as allowed by law under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (“RICO”) and Tennessee statutory and common law. The action seeks repayment of costs associated with the opioid epidemic in Smith County.

Located in Middle Tennessee, Smith County is home to two Nobel Peace Prize winners: former United States Vice President Albert Gore, Jr., awarded for his efforts to curb the global climate change crisis; and former United States Secretary of State (1933-44) Cordell Hull, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945 for his part in organizing the United Nations. Today, Smith County finds itself in an endless battle to protect all its residents, including its next generation of leaders and citizens, from the opioid epidemic that is taking a daily, deadly toll in Smith County, and in counties across the nation.

Contact us

Governmental entities and funds interested in learning more or speaking with Lieff Cabraser about representation can contact us at 1 800 541-7358 or by using the form below. 

Note: We are not currently representing individuals injured by the ravages of the nationwide opioid epidemic.

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    CASE DOCUMENTS

    December 18, 2018
    San Francisco Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

    July 6, 2018
    Cannon County Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

    July 2, 2018
    Swinomish Tribe Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

    May 30, 2018
    Broward County Second Amended Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio

    March 12, 2018
    Yurok Tribe Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

    February 26, 2018
    Rutherford County Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

    December 22, 2017
    Nashville Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

    December 18, 2017
    Smith County Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee

    December 12, 2017
    Class Action Complaint
    U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio