Woodstock Joins Opioid Class Action Lawsuit

WOODSTOCK, GA — The city of Woodstock has signed on to join a class action lawsuit against drug manufacturers they say have marketed the use of highly-addictive narcotics that has led to an astonishing rise in opioid use and overdoses around the state and country.

The Council approved a contract and resolution authorizing its plans to enter the class action suit. The March 26 unanimous vote came after city leaders voted about two weeks ago to move forward with plans to be added to the suit.

In its resolution, Woodstock lays out the following information as the basis for its decision:

• 91 Americans die every day from an opioid overdose, with more than 15,000 deaths involving prescription opioids alone in 2015;
• 17.7 percent of Georgia high school students reported taking prescription painkillers without a doctor’s prescription, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
• Between 2014 and 2015 Georgia had a 64-percent increase in deaths by synthetic opioids (tramadol and fentanyl) and a 37.5-percent increase in heroin deaths;
• In 2006 opioid drug overdose death were 31.5 percent of all overdose deaths, and in 2015, they accounted for 68.8 percent of overdose deaths in Georgia;
• local, state and federal governments have born substantial financial and societal burden related to this crisis and epidemic and will incur costs for this nuisance for years to come into the foreseeable future; and
• certain manufacturers and distributors knowing of the serious risks and adverse outcomes related to the use of their products, including their highly addictive nature, nevertheless did purposefully set out to persuade providers, regulators and patients that their products were safe and effective.

Woodstock inked its agreement with Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson & Davis LLP, a Rome-based law firm. Other northwest Georgia government represented by the firm include the cities of Cartersville, Rome and Chattooga, Floyd and Whitfield counties.

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Other cities around metro Atlanta have also taken similar action. In early March, the city of Sandy Springs directed its attorney to join a lawsuit directed at these companies. The lawsuits, City Attorney Dan Lee told Sandy Springs leaders, would allow local jurisdictions and public safety officials to recoup the costs they are not reimbursed for when caring for anyone who overdoses on these drugs.

Woodstock's decision comes weeks after a well-known forensic pathologist was indicted by federal prosecutors in an elaborate opioid distribution ring. Dr. Joseph L. Burton, 76, of Milton, who served as a medical examiner for Cobb, Gwinnett and Paulding counties, allegedly wrote 1,100 prescription for painkillers in return for sexual favors.

The feds note those prescriptions amounted to more than 108,000 individual doses, including more than 66,000 oxycodone pills. Burton would often write prescription without thoroughly examining or, at times, without meeting patients, the indictment charged.

Burton also prescribed drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone "irrespective of any legitimate medical purpose and outside the normal course of professional practice in exchange for sexual favors and romantic affection," the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Burton and several others were also charged with racketeering by the Cherokee Multi-Agency Narcotics Squad related to their north Georgia operation.

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