Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner Suing Pennsylvania Attorney General Over Opioid Epidemic Settlement

CBS Philadelphia

July 23, 2021

In the first big challenge to the proposed $26 billion national opioid settlement, the Philadelphia district attorney on Thursday sued Pennsylvania’s attorney general over the deal, saying the city stands to get only a pittance to cope with an epidemic that is killing more than 1,000 people a year.

With Philadelphia pursuing its own, potentially more lucrative litigation against the opioid industry, District Attorney Larry Krasner denounced the national agreement and asked a state court to declare that Attorney General Josh Shapiro has no authority to bind the city to it.

Krasner also blasted Shapiro, a fellow Democrat, for acquiescing to a settlement that he said fails to hold opioid distributors and manufacturers sufficiently accountable for the damage they have caused in Philadelphia and elsewhere.

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