County could see millions from opioid settlement

The Ozaukee County Board on Wednesday was to discuss whether to accept a settlement against  large pharmaceutical companies that it says are responsible for the opioid epidemic in the county and across the country.

Depending on how many governmental groups agree to the settlement by the Jan. 2 deadline, the county could receive as much as $2.9 million in the settlement.

The county could see a portion of the funds as early as April, according to documents given to supervisors in preparation for Wednesday’s meeting.

The settlement agreement calls for 85% of the money to be placed in a separate account dedicated to funding opioid abatement measures, with roughly 20% of the settlement going to pay legal fees in the cases. 

The County Board unanimously agreed in 2017 to join 70 other counties and cities across the state in suing companies that make and market drugs such as oxycodone and morphine that are blamed for the national opioid addiction epidemic.

At the time, Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said opioid addiction was not only responsible for an increase in drug crimes but a surge in property crimes committed by those who steal to finance their addiction.

For years, he noted, the District Attorney’s Office filed about 150 felony cases a year. About a decade ago, that number spiked into the 300s and in 2016 it reached 389 cases, and drugs had a lot to do with it, Gerol said.

Nationwide settlements have been proposed to resolve litigation against three large distributors, McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen, and manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its parent company Johnson & Johnson, documents provided to supervisors said.

The documents noted that negotiators are urging communities to settle the case in order to maximize the payout, with the distributors paying a maximum $21 billion over 18 years and J&J paying $5 billion over nine years. 

The agreement requires “a critical mass” of state and local governments to opt in to the settlement, the documents state, noting that about half the funds are in the form of incentive payments that grow with the number of communities accepting the settlement.

Anyone who doesn’t accept the settlement will be required to move ahead with their lawsuit within 90 days, the document says, noting the court is trying to “incentivize total participation,” the document reads.