Oswego County has joined the growing list of counties in New York filing lawsuits against drug companies over the opioid epidemic and addiction.
On Jan. 4, Simmons Hanly Conroy, one of the nation’s largest law firms focused on consumer protection and mass tort actions, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Oswego County. The county seeks relief in the compliant that includes compensatory and punitive damages for the millions of dollars it spends each year to combat the public nuisance created by the drug companies’ deceptive marketing campaign that misrepresents the safety and efficacy of long-term opioid use, according to a press release from Simmons Hanly Conroy.
Richard Mitchell, the Oswego County attorney, declined to comment on the pending litigation but stood behind his previous statement in the press release.
“Today’s action builds upon the important work of addressing the opioid crisis in New York,” Mitchell said in the release. “Oswego County, like many others across the state, has suffered great losses due to the defendants’ recklessness and negligence about the long-term effects of opioid use. Together with Simmons Hanly Conroy, we will work to hold the defendants responsible for their actions.”
According to the Center for Disease Control, during 2014, a total of 28,647 drug overdose deaths in the United States involved some type of opioid. This equates to 78.4 deaths per day due to an opioid.
The lawsuit alleges the defendants sought to create a false perception in the minds of physicians, patients, health care providers and health care payers that using opioids to treat chronic pain was safe for most patients and the drugs’ benefits outweighed the risks, according to the release. In the lawsuit, Oswego County says it lost at least 67 residents to opioid-related overdoses between 2009 and 2014. The number of emergency department admissions related to opioids in 2014 increased 113 percent from 2010.
University Police Chief John Rossi said Oswego and other counties would likely use funds from a possible suit win to aid in recovery efforts.
“No one knows what the verdict will be, and being a federal case, it will probably be two years before it goes to trial,” Rossi said. “Without speculating, I’m sure if the counties won damages, they would most likely put the money awarded to them in rehabilitation facilities. This would be an indirect effect on the students who would enter treatment.”
According to the New York State Department of Health, the rate of New York state, excluding New York City, overdose deaths involving any opioid pain reliever has increased each year between 2010 and 2015.
In addition to Oswego County, Simmons Hanly Conroy has filed similar lawsuits in Broome, Dutchess, Erie, Orange, Schenectady, Seneca, Suffolk and Sullivan counties.
Graphic: Rachel Futterman | The Oswegonian
