Photo Credit: Darwin Brandis Getty Images/iStockphoto
Milwaukee County has made history by agreeing to a second $56 million opioid litigation settlement, marking a total recovery of $128 million for the county. The settlement was reached as a result of one of three pending federal cases brought by the county against opioid defendants. The first $72 million settlement was agreed to in late 2021, and after attorney fees, the net recovery to the county totals $101 million to date. This marks the largest amount ever recovered by any local government in Wisconsin and the largest recovery of any Wisconsin local government in active opioid litigation.
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley praised the hard work and due diligence of the Office of Corporation Counsel, which held bad actors accountable after years of opioids devastating the community and taking lives too soon. He added that the opioid epidemic reaches communities of all kinds, with harm crossing all socio-economic, demographic, and age ranges. Crowley believes that these dollars have the potential to be transformative for the community, especially at a time when the opioid problem and the suffering of county residents have continued and intensified.
In 2021, Milwaukee County recovered $56.8 million in a statewide settlement from three distributors and a manufacturer. The settlement represented over a year of careful negotiation with various parties, including the Attorney General, the Governor, the state Joint Finance Committee, and all litigating local governments in Wisconsin, as well as the national class representatives, state attorneys general, and defendants.
Margaret Daun, the Corporation Counsel, said that in her 20 years of practicing law, she had never seen anything like the facts in these cases. She added that these were bad faith actors who knew the drugs were highly addictive and made decisions to market larger doses and push them on people who didn't need them, knowing the outcomes would be fatal. Although the County can't recover the lives lost, it can recover much-needed funds to treat this blight on the community and save lives. Daun also indicated that the County's litigation continues against other defendants, including the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma L.P., and believes that other settlements are likely in the future.
Milwaukee County continued litigation with a second slate of distributors, resulting in this newest $45.3 million settlement. The two settlements bring a total of $101 million into the county for harm reduction, prevention, and treatment. County Board Chairwoman Marcelia Nicholson said that everyone in the community knows someone affected by the scourge of the opioid epidemic. She added that the County Board moved fast to approve this resolution to fund critical services that will help save lives and stop suffering for residents and their loved ones.
|
|
Last fall, Milwaukee County designed a process by which county departments could submit grant applications to request funding for relevant projects. An “Opioid Settlement Proposal Review Panel” was convened to ensure subject matter expertise and equity-based funding recommendations were brought forward to maximize the positive impact of opioid settlement funds in Milwaukee County. The settlement funds are expected to support a wide range of approaches to reducing death from overdose, including countywide distribution of harm reduction supplies, Narcan distribution for law enforcement and first responders, and building capacity at residential substance abuse treatment facilities.
The Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) will regrant funds to community-based organizations through a competitive application process as part of its “Coordination of Opioid Prevention Services Project.” In February, DHHS held community conversations to get input from residents, providers, people with lived experience, and others as to how to best invest the funds to maximize prevention, recovery, and harm reduction activities. The next steps for DHHS’ regranting of funds include reviewing feedback from the community sessions, releasing a request for proposal, and hosting an applicant information session in the next month, and making selection announcements sometime this summer.
