Devyn LeBlanc
reporter@greenepublishing.com
Attorney General Ashley Moody launched the Florida Opioid Settlement Portal on Wednesday, Sept. 29. The portal will serve as a resource for counties, municipalities and the public about the settlements and local participation in the opioid agreements. Florida holds more than $1.6 billion of this $26 billion agreement. Attorney General Moody stated that funds from the agreements will be used to abate the deadly opioid crisis claiming 21 lives a day in Florida.
The proposed settlements require the distributors and Janssen Pharmaceutical Company to pay billions of dollars to abate the opioid epidemic. Specifically, the settlements require the distributors to pay up to $21 billion over 18 years and Janssen to pay up to $5 billion over no more than nine years, for a total of $26 billion. Of the settlement amount, approximately $22.7 billion is earmarked for use by participating states and subdivisions to remediate and abate the impacts of the opioid crisis. The settlements also contain injunctive relief provisions governing the opioid marketing, sale and distribution practices at the heart of the states’ and subdivisions’ lawsuits and further require the distributors to implement additional safeguards to prevent diversion of prescription opioids.
Florida negotiated an allocation agreement with counsel for its litigating local subdivisions, so they [the subdivisions] know how much money will be received from any settlement. So far, 158 subdivisions in Florida, representing more than 90 percent of Florida's population have agreed to participate. Moving forward, those subdivisions are required to vote to join the settlement.
By terms of the settlement agreement, cities with a population less than 10,000 people that are not litigating against the settling defendants do not count in the sign-on calculations. Florida is allowing those cities to participate and receive funds if they sign a participation agreement and release its claims. If a city with less than 10,000 people that is not litigating against the settling defendants does not sign-on, those amounts will roll-up to the county in which the city is located. If no action is taken, a Florida subdivision will not receive settlement funds and will reduce the amount of abatement funds for Florida.
In August, Attorney General Moody and participating states announced the historic agreements. As a result, three settling opioid distributors, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson, collectively, will pay up to $21 billion over 17 and a half years, and Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years. The agreements follow years of aggressive litigation efforts led by Attorney General Moody and other state attorneys general. Florida’s allotted portion of the agreements is $1.6 billion—bringing the total amount of funds secured through action by Attorney General Moody to nearly $2 billion.