Eligible cities that choose to sign on have a little less than two weeks left to join the five most recent opioid settlements with CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Teva, and Allergan. The deadline for cities to join the five settlements to receive a portion of up to $217 million for eligible local governments is April 18, 2023.

If your city has questions about the settlements or the process to join the settlements, please visit the AGO’s website or contact Jeff Rupert, the Division Chief for the AGO’s Complex Litigation Division at Jeffrey.Rupert@atg.wa.gov and comopioidscases@atg.wa.gov. AWC also held a webinar in February with more information on the settlements and participation process.

The status of local governments who have signed on can be found on the AG's website. As with previous settlements, a minimum threshold of eligible city participation is required for the settlements to be implemented and eligible for the full amount.

Updates

Payment to attorneys for the first distributor opioid settlements

Attorney fees for the first distributor opioid settlement with AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson are currently being calculated by a third party appointed by the MDL fee panel, as provided in the allocation agreement (Section 11.G). The MDL Fee Panel retained the services of Joseph Tann, Esq. as authorized in the order referenced in the agreement. Mr. Tann will calculate and verify the amounts due to the four firms that represent the litigating local governments in Washington (Keller Rohrback, Huck Goldfarb, Hagens Berman, and Napoli Shkolnik).

These fees are being paid from funds that were allocated in the settlement to the Government Fee Fund and held by the settlement administrator for this purpose. These payments will not impact the amounts due to local governments.

Opioid Abatement Councils

Eligible local governments were also supposed to have their Opioid Abatement Councils (OAC) set up before the next annual payments from last year’s distributor settlement, which are due for distribution in July. As provided in the One Washington MOU, the regional OACs are a condition of the settlement agreements.

One of the key duties of the OAC is to develop and maintain a website that lists settlement fund spending by local governments in the region, updated annually. The OAC may be a preexisting regional body or may be a new body created for purposes of executing the obligations of the settlement. OAC membership is outlined in the One Washington MOU and includes representatives from participating cities and counties in the region who have work or educational experience in one of the approved opioid abatement uses under the agreement. The process for determining representation will be determined by the participating local governments, and regions may wish to build on existing regional public health structures to oversee the settlement allocations and reporting requirements. Several have been formed already if your region needs a model.

Please note that AWC is facilitating the sharing of information between the AGO and cities. AWC is not part of the litigation and does not have a position on the pending litigation or the settlement offers. The information contained in these materials is for informational purposes and should not be considered legal advice. Each city will need to determine its own course of action in consultation with its legal counsel.