Peabody Files Lawsuit Against Opioid Makers

From The City of Peabody: Mayor Edward A.Bettencourt, Jr. announced today that the City of Peabody has filed a public nuisance lawsuit against the pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and wholesale drug distributors that made the opioid epidemic possible.

Peabody filed suit against five of the largest manufacturers of prescription opioids and their related companies and against the country’s three largest wholesale drug distributors. The suit alleges that the manufacturing companies pushed highly addictive, dangerous opioids, falsely representing to doctors that patients would only rarely succumb to drug addiction, while the distributors breached their legal duties to monitor, detect, investigate, refuse and report suspicious orders of prescription opioids. Peabody is joining a growing list of city and county governments across the country that are taking action against the drug manufacturers and distributors for fueling the opioid crisis in their communities.

Peabody is working with a consortium of law firms to hold pharmaceutical drug manufacturers and wholesale distributors accountable for failing to do what they were charged with doing under the federal Controlled Substances Act – monitor, identify and report suspicious activity in the size and frequency of opioid shipments to pharmacies and hospitals.

In retaining the Massachusetts Opioid Litigation Attorneys (MOLA) consortium, Peabody joins nearly 100 cities and towns in Massachusetts who have engaged MOLA to represent them in opioid litigation. “Our community will do everything in our power to stop this crisis from further destroying people’s lives,” said Mayor Bettencourt. “We must fight this epidemic in the streets and in the court room. Not until we address the sources that are fueling this problem and we force drug makers and distributors to follow the law, will we be able to end this unconscionable epidemic.” The people of Massachusetts and the City of Peabody continue to bear the burden of the cost of the epidemic, as the costs of treatment for addiction, education and law enforcement have continued to rise. According to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, in 2016, 2,069 people lost their lives due to opioid-related overdoses in the state, a 15 percent increase from the prior year.

The complaint was filed on behalf of the City, which was consolidated with the multi-district litigation in the Northern District of Ohio on July 24, 2018. It is expected that trials will be scheduled for the Spring of 2019 in the event that settlement cannot be reached. As set forth in the agreement, the City will not incur any legal fees unless there is a successful outcome to the lawsuit. Such an outcome includes action to address and end the current opioid crisis as well as compensation for past and ongoing damages caused by the drug companies.

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