Hillsborough County’s share of an opioid litigation settlement could reach $60 million for treatment, prevention and other efforts to combat the decades-long addiction crisis.
The dollars, to be paid out over 18 years, come from a $26 billion settlement announced last month to end litigation from state and local governments against Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors — Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson.
The exact amount of the payout isn’t yet known, but the county’s outside legal team estimated Hillsborough could net $50 million to $60 million, according to formulas established for computing damages.
The county used attorney Michael Moore, the former Mississippi attorney general, to file suit in 2018 against 14 companies, alleging drug manufacturers helped cause the addiction crisis and violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by aggressively marketing opioid drugs, overplaying their benefits in treating chronic pain and downplaying their dangers.
![Attorney Mike Moore talks at an August 2018 news conference Tuesday about the details of the lawsuit Hillsborough County filed against opioid makers and distributors. Also pictured is then-Hillsborough County Commission Chairwoman Sandy Murman, Sheriff Chad Chronister and State Attorney Andrew Warren. [TONY MARRERO/Times]](data:image/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"%20viewBox="0%200%20982%20576"/%3E "Attorney Mike Moore talks at an August 2018 news conference Tuesday about the details of the lawsuit Hillsborough County filed against opioid makers and distributors. Also pictured is then-Hillsborough County Commission Chairwoman Sandy Murman, Sheriff Chad Chronister and State Attorney Andrew Warren. [TONY MARRERO/Times]")
More than 3,500 governments, including the state of Florida, filed similar suits which were consolidated in federal court in Ohio where the settlement was reached.
The Hillsborough County Commission is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resolution and accompanying memorandum of understanding to begin the process of settling its claim. The county eventually will receive its share of the proceeds through the state of Florida.
“I’m happy with the settlement,” Commissioner Stacy White said Monday. “As a practicing pharmacist, I’ve watched this epidemic play out first hand. There were some times throughout the early 2000s and into the 2010s that were not really pretty for our society.”
Separately, the county’s litigation against Purdue Pharma — the maker of OxyContin and Dilaudid — retailers Walgreens and CVS and seven other companies continues. It could result in future settlements, according to a memorandum to commissioners.
“No company should ever place its desire for profits above the health and well-being of its customers or the communities where those customers live,” the county lawsuit stated. “This is particularly so when the product that the company manufactures, distributes and sells is a narcotic.”
Three months before Hillsborough filed its suit, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi announced she had filed “the most comprehensive lawsuit in the country” against the largest manufacturers and distributors of opioids, blaming them for creating an opioid crisis that has killed more than 10,000 Floridians. The suit was filed in Pasco County and targeted some of the same defendants listed in Hillsborough’s suit.
The Florida Department of Health reported 208 deaths from opioid overdoses in Hillsborough during the first six months of 2020. In addition, there were 916 non-fatal opioid-related hospital emergency room visits and 450 hospitalizations in the county during the first nine months of 2020.
When county officials announced the lawsuit in 2018, they shared data showing Hillsborough reported 579 babies born addicted to drugs — the most among Florida’s 67 counties, according to the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration.
Services for pregnant women and inmates, education, treatment programs, expanding social services, training for first responders and others efforts are some of the uses identified by the memorandum to be considered by commissioners.
“The purpose of this litigation is not to create some kind of windfall for government,” said White. “The purpose is to get much needed resources on the ground to help with treatment, abatement, and prevention of addiction.”
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