Westmoreland DA files suit against opioid companies for costs of overdoses

The Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office this week filed a lawsuit against nearly two dozen opioid distributors and manufacturers as part of a legal action that seeks financial restitution for addiction and overdoses attributed to the drugs.

The lawsuit mirrors litigation filed in 2017 by county commissioners and is now part of a consolidated litigation pending in Delaware County involving dozens of counties and local municipalities.

District Attorney John Peck said he was approached last month by a Philadelphia-based law firm about filing a lawsuit on behalf of the county and was unaware of the commissioners’ pending litigation.

“We’re still in the midst of an opioid crisis in Pennsylvania and also in Westmoreland County. Although our overdose deaths have gone down in the last couple of years, this is an effort to hold drug manufacturers and distributors accountable,” Peck said Friday.

Overdose deaths in the county climbed steadily since 2008, when the coroner’s office reported 47 fatalities. Those peaked in 2017 with 193 deaths. Numbers have since declined, with 122 fatal overdoses reported in 2018 and 115 last year. Through June, 38 overdose deaths have been confirmed this year; another 10 are suspected and awaiting final toxicology results, according to the coroner’s office.

According to Peck’s lawsuit, the number of prescriptions for opioids written to county residents in 2016 equaled an amount that would have provided the drugs to three out of every four people, including children. It claims that, between 2006 and 2014, more than 215.5 million opioid prescriptions were shipped to the county.

“Opioid abuse is a threat to the health of not only county residents who have used opioids but even those who have not,” the lawsuit stated.

Peck said as many as 70% of the more than 6,000 criminal cases his office prosecutes annually are connected to drug addiction.

“It’s had a significant effect on the future of our county,” Peck said.

The lawsuit alleges two counts, unfair trade practices and conspiracy, against each of the defendants, which include national and internationally based companies that manufacture the drugs as well as the chain pharmacies where the opioids were purchased.

Drug makers used deceptive marketing to expand their business and knowingly created a situation that led to numerous addictions and deaths, according to the lawsuit. It is seeking damages of least $1,000 for every violation of the unfair trade law and up to $3,000 for each violation where a victim is 60 years or older.

The lawsuit also seeks other, unspecified damages as well as money to repay businesses and residents for expenses related to the addiction epidemic and for costs to the county related to fatal and nonfatal overdoses.

Meanwhile, commissioners in November opted out of federal litigation against the opioid companies that could involve more than 2,000 municipalities throughout the country. Attorneys in that case are seeking a global settlement of all existing cases, and attorneys general from four states, including Pennsylvania, proposed $48 billion in payouts to resolve the lawsuits.

The lawyer who filed the commissioners’ lawsuit could not be reached for comment Friday.