Northport Looks To Join State In Settlement From Opioid Lawsuit

NORTHPORT, AL — The Northport City Council will hold a special called meeting Monday at noon as the city considers joining the State of Alabama and others in a settlement over opioid-related lawsuits against a major drugmaker and one of its distributors.

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The State of Alabama recently reached settlement terms with drugmaker Endo International Plc and distributor McKesson Corp, over the companies' roles in the opioid epidemic, according to a report from Reuters.

The City of Tuscaloosa is set to have its City Council consider a similar measure on Tuesday.

According to the most-recent court filing, Tuscaloosa-based attorneys Robert F. Prince and Joshua P. Hayes, of Prince Glover Hayes, are listed on the lawsuit as legal counsel for the Alabama Attorney General's Office.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse reported that, as recently as 2018, Alabama providers wrote 97.5 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons — marking the highest prescribing rate in the country that year and one that was almost twofold greater than the average U.S. rate of 51.4.

In 2019 alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 768 people died from opioid overdoses in Alabama.

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