County set to join opioid lawsuit

CELINA - Mercer County officials plan to hire a law firm to pursue civil litigation against manufacturers and wholesale distributors of prescription opiates, claiming they have a role in the opioid epidemic.

The officials want to join numerous counties throughout the country in filing multidistrict litigation against the drug companies, according to Mercer County Assistant Prosecutor Amy Ikerd.

The civil lawsuit would be filed through special counsel Greene, Ketchum, Farell, Bailey & Tweel of West Virginia in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in Cleveland.

If a settlement is reached with the drugmakers in federal court, the county could potentially be in line to receive money. The suit claims local governments have faced costs due to "the distribution of prescription opiates which caused or contributed to the opioid epidemic plaguing our community," according to a resolution passed this week by commissioners.

"We discussed it an awful lot," commissioner Jerry Laffin said, explaining the move is necessary for the county to receive any potential settlement or judgment in the case.

Commissioner Rick Muhlenkamp agreed.

"We talked with the prosecutor's office on this a few times, and they thought there was justification for the suit," Muhlenkamp said. "All the neighboring counties along with us are joining in."

Commissioners joined with county prosecutor Matt Fox in applying for authorization from common pleas court to employ the special counsel. Judge Jeffrey Ingraham has signed off on the application, Ikerd confirmed to the newspaper.

"Retention of special counsel is necessary and desirable given the expertise required to prosecute this complex case against the manufacturers and wholesale distributors," the resolution states.

Under a contingency fee agreement, the county will not be charged for special counsels' services. However, the law firm would be entitled to 25 percent of any verdict, Ikerd said.

"There is no fee if there is no recovery," the resolution states. "There is no reimbursement of litigation expenses if there is no recovery."

Local authorities said it's difficult to calculate just how much the heroin epidemic has cost the county government. Numerous agencies and departments have been affected in different ways, from law enforcement and incarceration to foster care, drug court and the administration of the anti-opioid overdose drug Narcan, which sheriff Jeff Grey said costs $70 a dose.

Every patrol deputy carries two doses of Narcan at any give time, Grey said.

The role that drugmakers and drug distributors played in contributing to the nation's deadly opioid epidemic is front and center in the federal lawsuit.

Federal court Judge Dan Polster is overseeing more than 200 lawsuits against drug companies brought by communities across the country, including those in California, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia. The lawsuits have been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation, an approach taken when similar lawsuits are filed around the country.

The consolidation comes amid the most widespread and deadly drug crisis in the nation's history. The government tallied a record 63,600 overdose drug deaths in 2016. Most of the deaths involved prescription opioids such as OxyContin or Vicodin or related illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation cited three reasons in December to center the cases in Cleveland. First is Ohio's experience with overdose deaths and attempts to slow the epidemic. In 2016, a record 4,050 Ohioans died of overdoses, a number expected to rise again for 2017.

Next is Cleveland's proximity to various drugmakers' headquarters in Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio, which is home to drug distributor Cardinal Health. Finally, the panel cited Polster's experience on a previous consolidated case involving damage claims related to dyes used in magnetic resonance imaging procedures.

- The Associated Press contributed to this story.