Oklahoma City Council moves ahead with opioid litigation

Aug. 01--shares

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The Oklahoma City Council joined the opioid fight Tuesday, hiring an outside legal team to sue pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and others viewed as responsible for the addiction crisis.

The council's vote was unanimous and came without comment, after discussions and negotiations that lasted much of the summer.

A lawsuit could be filed in state court within a couple of weeks.

Terms of the legal services agreement include language broad enough to sweep into a settlement doctors found to have unethically prescribed addictive medications.

City officials say the opioid epidemic has contributed to increased health care expenses and time lost from work, and put an "increased burden" on police, fire and ambulance services.

The criminal justice system has been weighed down by the effects of opioid usage that is 60 percent higher per capita than the national average, they say.

"There is evidence that the manufacturers and distributors of opioid-based pharmaceuticals have engaged in negligent and unprofessional conduct that has significantly contributed to, if not caused, the epidemic," the city attorney, Kenneth Jordan, wrote in a memo to the council.

The outside legal team is led by the McAfee & Taft and Fulmer Sill law firms, both of Oklahoma City.

In calculating attorneys' fees, the city would get 75 percent or more of any settlement, depending on how long the case goes on.

For instance, if the city settled for $25 million after the case had gone to trial and a jury was seated, attorneys would get $6.25 million, or 25 percent.

Larger settlements would produce bigger paydays for the attorneys, but their share would amount to a smaller percentage of the overall award.

Taxpayers would be on the hook only if the pharmaceutical manufacturers win and convince the court the litigation is frivolous, said Wiley Williams, a deputy city attorney.

Oklahoma City's lawsuit ultimately could be consolidated with other cases being heard by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, Ohio.

Williams said 995 municipalities, counties and states were part of that litigation in the latest count.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said 42,000 people died in 2016 due to fentanyl, heroin and prescription opioids.

Forty percent of opioid overdose deaths involved a prescription opioid.

State case

Attorney General Mike Hunter filed an opioid lawsuit last year in Cleveland County District Court.

Citing restrictions in state law on cities' ability to recover damages in such cases, he warned last month that Oklahoma City would be taking a gamble by filing its own lawsuit.

The state's case currently is in federal court in Oklahoma City, where a judge is considering Hunter's motion to return it to Cleveland County.

Williams said last month that uncertainty about whether, or how much, the city would share in any state settlement was a driving force behind filing a separate lawsuit.

Michael Burrage, of the Whitten Burrage law firm, lead counsel in the state's lawsuit, said Tuesday the state's team wished Oklahoma City well.

Oklahoma has been "the leader nationwide" in opioid litigation, and the No. 1 priority is making state agencies that have been hard hit by the epidemic whole again, he said.

Gentner Drummond, of Tulsa, who is running against Hunter for the Republican nomination for attorney general, issued a statement Tuesday asserting that Oklahoma City had "opted out" of Hunter's lawsuit.

"That is a noteworthy development with significant implications for the state of Oklahoma, and certainly does not speak well" of Hunter's leadership, he said.

Burrage said Oklahoma City never "opted in."

Hunter's lawsuit is about saving lives and getting treatment for those who need it, he said.

"It's not a political ballgame with him," Burrage said.

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