Bloomington, Monroe County to Sue Opioid Makers, Distributors
(Image courtesy of the city of Bloomington)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowMonroe County and the city of Bloomington are the most recent Indiana municipalities taking on opioid manufacturers in court. Mayor John Hamilton says the lawsuit is "one of many avenues" the city and county are pursuing to address social and "significant financial burdens" caused by the opioid epidemic.
Commissioner Amanda Barge says the suit aims to take opioid distributors and manufacturers "to task on the immeasurable harm their practices have caused our residents." She also says "there is no greater public health crisis in our country than the opioid epidemic, and here in Monroe County the costs are exponentially spiritual, physical, emotional and financial."
The defendants include manufacturers Purdue Pharma, Cephalon Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Noramco Inc., Endo Pharmaceuticals, Mallinckrodt PLC, Allergan PLC and Watson Pharmaceuticals and distributors AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. The county and city have retained Indianapolis law firm Cohen & Malad LLP, the same firm handling the litigation by the city of Indianapolis. Indy was the first municipality in the state to take such action. Since, the city of New Albany has detailed its own lawsuit.
The lawsuit will allege that the manufacturers used deceptive marketing tactics and the distributors failed to report and stop suspicious orders flooding the city and county.