SOUTH HADLEY — The Select Board signed a contract joining a nationwide lawsuit against major pharmaceutical manufacturers this month, making South Hadley the third community in Hampshire County to join the mass tort litigation.
“I think it’s important for the town to abate costs for threats like this,” said Town Administrator Michael Sullivan of the opioid addiction epidemic. “We looked at it and there was really no downside. Now it’s just a sit and wait game.”
South Hadley will join Northampton, Easthampton, Greenfield and more than 70 other municipalities across the state that have agreed to take part in the lawsuit. The Select Board signed the contract with the Massachusetts Opioid Litigation Attorneys on April 3.
Cities and towns can join the lawsuit at no cost, with the law firms collecting 25 percent of the settlement if the case is won.
The Massachusetts Opioid Litigation Attorneys consortium is filing the mass tort litigations on behalf of Massachusetts taxpayers. The consortium is made up of three Massachusetts law firms: Sweeney Merrigan Law; Rodman, Rodman & Sandman; and Kopelman & Paige. Peter Merrigan of Sweeney Merrigan Law said the law firm is one of nine nationally participating in the case.
The lawsuit claims “unlawful conduct” by distributors and manufacturers of prescription drugs under the Controlled Substance Act of 1970. Under federal law, drug distributors are required to report orders of unusual size or frequency to the Drug Enforcement Administration, while manufacturers allegedly marketed and misrepresented the addictive drugs.
“The litigation focuses on the wholesale distributors and manufacturers of opioids and their role in the diversion of millions of prescription opiates into the illicit market, which has resulted in opioid addiction, abuse, morbidity and mortality,” the contract states. “There is no easy solution and no precedent for such an action against this sector of the industry.”
Damages awarded from the lawsuit are meant to cover a city or town’s expenses for things like emergency services, the opioid-overdose antidote naloxone, addiction treatment, law enforcement and other costs related to addiction.
“I think it’s a long-term project. I don’t think we’re expecting any immediate satisfaction or results,” Sullivan said.
The mass tort litigation, filed on behalf of Massachusetts taxpayers is not a class action lawsuit, but rather a collection of lawsuits filed on behalf of individual municipalities claiming different, but related damages. The pretrial and defendant discovery process will be consolidated through a law office in Cleveland, Merrigan said, to be used by lawsuits around the country.
Sarah Robertson can be reached at srobertson@gazettenet.com.