City Of Sarasota To Sue Opioid Manufacturers For Fraud

SARASOTA, FL –The Sarasota City Commission has unanimously voted to retain Bill Robertson, personal injury attorney and CEO of Kirk Pinkerton P.A., and Steven W. Teppler with the Abbott Law Group to represent the City of Sarasota in a lawsuit to recover damages related to the opioid epidemic.

The attorney team will file a lawsuit in federal court with the Middle District in Tampa against as many as seven or more major pharmaceutical manufacturing companies and their distributors.

Opioids are a class of drugs that include pain relievers available legally by prescription, such as oxycodone , hydrocodone, codeine and morphine. The legal and illegal use of these drugs has resulted in a record number of drug overdoses in Sarasota.

The two attorneys are taking the case on contingency, meaning the city will not incur any expenses unless recovered during the lawsuit.

“Our nation is in crisis and these pharmaceutical companies are putting profits above people by fueling the opioid epidemic with false claims and failure to disclose the long-term risks of these toxic drugs,” said Robertson. “Their conduct is fraudulent, unlawful and deceptive and municipalities have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to keep up with expenses related to this malfeasance.”

Lawsuits like these against pharmaceutical companies are not uncommon across the country. Between 2003-07, approximately 1,400 individual lawsuits were filed in the U.S. with another 3,600 prepped for litigation.

During discovery in previous litigation, it was revealed that manufacturers cited biased medical studies to support claims that opioid addiction was rare. These companies allegedly hired pain management experts and doctors to promote use of opioids to other doctors and provided kickbacks and other incentives to doctors to promote use to other doctors.

Manufacturers also were accused of creating and funding a medical-front group to publish and promote false research and information about the drugs and published articles stating that opioid use was non-addicting, among other fraudulent acts.

Currently more than 70 states, cities and counties have filed lawsuits related to these claims.

“Damages to municipalities could add up to tens of millions of dollars,” said Teppler. “These firms grossly overstated the benefits of opioid therapy, leading to excessive collateral damage, including staggering costs for workers compensation, law enforcement and emergency services, relapse prevention and more.”

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cites more than 30,000 deaths annually nationwide from prescription opioids with prescription opioid sales topping $13 billion annually.

“We have lost so many to overdose and addiction, which is largely the reason I began a career in public service after law school — to provide a better path for people here,” said Sarasota City Commissioner Hagen Brody. “Our city has witnessed a pain pill epidemic that has led to dependence on street opiates like heroin when the supply of pills dried up. This lawsuit is an aggressive move to claw back some of the profit that pharmaceutical companies have made unscrupulously pedaling addiction in our community, and I fully support the effort.”

In 2016, Robertson and Teppler represented the City of Sarasota in the oil spill claim against BP, recovering $3 million for the city.

Image via Manatee Sheriff’s Office