Some settlement reached in six-year-old opioid suit county joined

The Union County Board of Supervisors recently got an update on a matter that most people probably have forgotten.

During their regular February meeting, the board moved into executive session to discuss their involvement in what amounts to a nearly nationwide lawsuit relating to the opioid over-prescribing crisis several years ago.

The board did not announce what they discussed but apparently were looking into some questions of confidentiality and more public information was expected at this week's meeting.

Some background:

In 2017, there was great concern about the overuse of opioid drugs nationwide as well as locally. The Union County Board of Supervisors voted to look into how the opioid crisis was affecting this area and the result led to their joining a suit against more than 20 of the top pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors in the country.

The suit was mostly being handled by a group of law firms that specialize in this type of litigation and, based on a contingency basis, would not cost county taxpayers anything.

If the suit was successful, damages would be determined then.

The suit said, in part, the intent was to eliminate the hazard to public health caused by the opioid epidemic, abate the nuisance of it and recoup monies spent "because of Defendants' false, deceptive and unfair marketing and/or unlawful diversion of prescription opioids."

The county argued it had sustained economic damages for treatment and rehabilitation of those addicted to opioids, as well as law enforcement and care for children of families with addiction.

The county also said the drug makers hid the degree of addiction likelihood from opioids and failed to adequately prevent such drugs from being diverted people illegally.

The suit was filled with footnoted statistics about the extent and dangers of opioid use.

It stated that Mississippi had an opioid prescription rate of 120.3 per 100 persons. That means than, on average, every single resident in the state had at least one prescription for an opioid. The state was ranked as sixth highest in the country based on a median rate of 82.5 per 100 – which is still high.

In Union County, the 2016 rate was 115.7 opioid prescriptions per 100 people, almost twice the national average, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Although the lawsuit is very complex, very detailed and difficult for the layman to understand, it arguably says the drug companies knew opioids are more dangerous than they revealed, and not as effective.

The specific charges are nuisance, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation.

The suit asks for punitive damages, the court's preventing the companies from continuing in the various practices charged and compensation "for past and future costs to abate the ongoing public nuisance in the form of an abatement fund and triple damages otherwise, and to cover the medical and law enforcement expenses already cited.

This is the same process used for suits relating to the BP oil spill and the Monsanto case over the risks of using Roundup.

Settlements were reached with some defendants in 2021 and others in late 2022, with pharmacy chains CVS, Walgreen's and Wal-Mart.

The 2021 settlement meant that some distributors would pay up to $21 billion over 18 years and one other would pay up to an additional $5 billion over more than nine years.

Among other defendants, CVS will pay up to $4.90 billion over seven years, Walgreen's will pay up to $4.42 billion over 15 years and Wal-Mart will pay up to $2.74 billion in 2023 with all payments to be made within six years.

It is not clear how much, if any, of the settlement will come to Union County or what further action the suit will see.

In other business, supervisors approved the four-year road and bridge plan and voted to amend the county personnel policy. The change concerns vacation and sick leave. The policy requires employees to notify supervisors ahead of time about vacation days or lose them and if a sick day is taken on days before a holiday, a doctor's excuse will be needed.

Board members approved renewing health insurance with Affordable Care with no changes mentioned and amended the Child Protective Service budget to reflect the rent for their new location in the east side of the Reed's Market building.

In personnel, Union County Sheriff Jimmy Edwards had several recommendations approved.

Steven Ragsdale will be moved from dispatcher to jailer, but the change came because Ragsdale is being deployed by the National Guard for one year and his job must be protected in the interim.

Wesley Hugh Jarrett will become a full-time deputy, Leslie Alan Burns will be full-time jailer and Stacie Thompson will move from part-time jailer to full-time jailer.

The sheriff also got permission to purchase two Dodge Durangos at state contract price from Canon Motors. He said the purchases are in his budget. If an agency uses a state-negotiated purchase price it does not have to seek competitive bids.

Edwards got approval to pay for travel and lodging for Alex Bryant to attend Project Lifesaver training March 15-16 in Missouri.

Project Lifesaver provides bracelets for people who are at risk of wandering off or getting lost due to age, autism or some other reason. Each bracelet contains a radio transmitter and the sheriff's department has a receiver that can help track the person if necessary. Usually, if officials learn a person is missing soon enough, they can find him or her in 30 minutes or less. Jerry Lowery has been overseeing the program but is now serving as a school resource officer in Tippah County.

In purchases, supervisors received bids on six cubic yard rear-load solid waste containers, accepting the low price of $6,775 from Iron Containers.

The board approved a contract for Tax Assessor-Collector Tameri Dunnam with American Financial Credit Services to collect tax liens on delinquent personal property for the years 2016-2021. Dunnam reminded supervisors they approved the arrangement in October but it did not make it into official board minutes. The county receives the full amount owed when collected by the company with the payer being responsible for the company's fee.

Chancery Clerk Annette Hickey got permission to void a sale from the land tax sale that was done in error. That means the county will reimburse the amount, $341.72.

Routine payments included fees for the five election commissioners, paying the circuit clerk for serving as county registrar, approving all the claims docket for January and paying the medical examiner for 14 death investigations.

In a personal appearance, Mason Chapin with Thompson Machinery spoke briefly, just saying he was now representative for the company in this area and wanting to introduce himself. Chapin lives in New Albany but the company has an Oxford office where he works.

The next scheduled board meeting was for Tuesday, Feb. 1, a change from the usual Monday meeting day due to the Presidents' Day holiday. The next meeting after that will be Monday, March 6, at 10 a.m.