County to receive funds from nationwide opioid lawsuit

Crook County is set to benefit from a large-scale class action lawsuit against pharmaceutical companies who were involved in supplying opioids. The OneWyo opioid settlement is part of a nationwide settlement and is expected to net somewhere between $82,000 and $150,000 for this county.

County Attorney Joe Baron presented the memorandum of agreement (MOU) for the settlement to the county commissioners last week, telling them, “This is a class action against everybody.”

The “everybody” in question includes all the pharmaceutical supply chain participants who have “contributed to the opioid epidemic, which has in turn harmed the people and communities of the State of Wyoming,” according to the MOU. It includes any entity that engages or has engaged in the manufacturing, marketing, promotion, distribution or dispensing of opioids.

Some of the companies involved in the national settlement agreement include Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson and – through a bankruptcy resolution – Purdue Pharma L.P.

The State of Wyoming, through the Attorney General and some local governments, engaged in investigation, litigation and settlement discussions seeking to hold those supply chain participants accountable for the damage they have caused in Wyoming.

“The State and all participating local governments share a common desire to abate and alleviate the impacts of the pharmaceutical supply chain participants’ misconduct,” states the MOU.

The participants decided to jointly approach settlements, believing this would improve the likelihood of success and maximize the amount recovered. The class action lawsuit began in 2019 at the federal level, said Baron, and has now come down to the county level.

All funds recovered are to be divided proportionally. According to Baron, local governments will receive 65% of the funds; as well as counties, this includes cities and towns with populations over 10,000.

The sum that Crook County is expected to receive represents 0.54% of the total allocated to local governments. The idea, said Baron, is that the money is allocated according to where the opioid problems exist within this state.

The funds must be used for “opioid of co-occurring substance abuse disorder related strategies, projects or programs” listed within the MOU. These are divided into categories ranging from treatment and prevention to “other strategies,” such as support for children’s services, educating first responders and research.

The county commissioners signed a resolution last week to accept the statewide settlement agreement and receive the associated funds.