BEAUMONT – Several more Texas counties and even two school districts are suing the manufactures and distributors of opioids.
Over the past two years, dozens of Texas municipalities, including the state itself, have filed opioid lawsuits, the majority of which have been ushered into an MDL in Harris County.
Opioid suits seem to be still tricking in, as one case boasting eight counties and two school districts was transferred to the MDL on Nov. 18, court records show.
Among the plaintiff counties is Jefferson County. The two plaintiff school districts named in the suit are Irving ISD and Texarkana ISD.
Like in all opioid suits, the plaintiffs accuse the manufactures and distributors of creating an opioid epidemic by pushing their drugs on vulnerable Americans, leaving local governments and families to clean up the mess.
However, unlike most opioid lawsuits, the recent transfer into the MDL features school districts as plaintiffs.
Irving ISD and Texarkana ISD claim they suffered decreased funding due to the diversion of funds to address the opioid epidemic.
The districts also claim they have suffered increased costs, asserting they have been forced to train school nurses on how to treat overdoses and have had to increase law enforcement to prevent the distribution of opioids in their schools.
“At all relevant times, Defendants agreed and conspired to broaden the market for chronic opioid use by forcefully promoting and fostering an improper culture surrounding pain management,” the suit states. “Defendants worked arm in arm as a single harmonized unit to create and expand the market for opioids.”
The other plaintiff counties in the suit are Castro, Colorado, Madison, Roberts, San Saba, Shackelford and Terrell.
Representing them are Beaumont attorneys Mitchell Toups and Richard Coffman.
The defendants named in the suit include Abbvie, Knoll Pharmaceutical, Allergan, Watson Laboratories, Actavis, Assertio, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Normaco, Mission Pharmacal and Mylan.