AAC
LITIGATION LESSONS
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Opioid litigation update
reetings from the trenches of Opioid Justice for a United Arkansas! I last updated you about the united lawsuit filed by Arkansas counties, cities, and the state, against the opioid industry, in the Winter 2019 County Lines. I announced several items of what was then breaking news in the case: 1. Exciting all-day oral arguments in January and March 2019 in Jonesboro; 2. Victory in a battle to secure litigation privileges in this case — giving the government plaintiffs FOIA exemptions for attorney-client communications and attorney work product; 3. Negotiation and entry of a protective order governing production of confidential records and information in the case; and 4. The beginning of the discovery phase of the case. It has been nearly a year since I covered two pages of this dear magazine with details underlying that quick recap. Recent events warrant another update. First, I’m pleased to report that with discovery underway, the legions of lawyers working on this litigation have been very busy with squabbles about depositions and endless conference calls about the response to interrogatory number 65 and the fourth objection to request for production number 37 and so on. This is boring stuff for our readers, so I will say no more aside from this: the grinding work that must be done to get a case like this to trial is well underway. Your lawyers representing the plaintiff governments are preparing for trial. We know that the certainty of a trial date is the best way to secure justice from the drug-company defendants in a case like this. They know it also, which is why their primary strategy is to delay, delay, and delay. Our current goal is to do everything in our power to be ready for trial as soon as possible, seeking a remedy for Arkansas and all of its governments, communities, families, and citizens. We believe more than ever that the case we’ve filed on your behalves is the best case to take to trial that it could possibly be. We unified the governments on the front end, thanks to you. Nobody else did that. We’ve kept the case in state court in Arkansas with an Arkansas judge and the prospect of Arkansas jurors while most cases have been swept into the multidistrict litigation in Ohio. The governments have a claim under the Arkansas Drug Dealer Liability Act, under which the governments contend that the defendants created, fueled, and participated in an illegal drug market. If that 22
claim is successful, the defendants can be made to clean up the illegal drug market, including drugs like heroin, which is part of the same illegal drug market according to the allegations in the complaint. We have the same public nui- Colin Jorgensen sance claim that netted the state Risk Management of Oklahoma hundreds of milLitigation Counsel lions of dollars for the first year of nuisance abatement in Oklahoma, from only a single opioid manufacturer. We recently filed an amended complaint to refine the parties. We now officially have all 75 Arkansas counties named as plaintiffs together in this single case, along with the 16 highest-population cities in Arkansas and the state. And we believe we have correctly named as defendants the opioid manufacturers and distributors who account for the vast majority of the alleged deluge and diversion of opioids into Arkansas over the many years of this epidemic. As part of discovery and trial preparation, we have begun interviewing potential fact witnesses for trial. We have some leads, such as Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane and county judges, sheriffs, and first responders with compelling stories to tell about the Arkansas opioid epidemic. We need government officials to explain to a jury the impossible strain on government resources, funding, personnel, jails and prisons, courts, hospitals and treatment facilities, and so on, from the Arkansas opioid epidemic. We need community leaders and citizens to tell the stories of the harm to communities, families, employers, and schools, and the stories of individual lives destroyed by and lost to the Arkansas opioid epidemic. We need willing addicts and their willing families to tell the stories of addiction ranging from pills to heroin, from active addiction, to death by overdose, to recovery. What can you do to help? Thank you for asking! If you or someone you know has a compelling story to tell about the opioid epidemic in Arkansas, and you or that person are comfortable with the possibility of being named as a potential witness in this case, please reach out to AAC Litigation Counsel Colin Jorgensen at cjorgensen@arcounties. org or at (501) 372-7947. I will be honored to receive your call and hear your story. I will be honest with you about the implications of serving as a potential witness, and it will be your decision. As always, thank you for your service and for the opportunity to represent your counties in this unprecedented case. COUNTY LINES, WINTER 2020
