The Board of Garrett County Commissioners announced that they have joined Montgomery, and other counties in Maryland, in litigation seeking compensation for the damage caused by the production and distribution of opioids.
The County’s claims will be part of the existing Multi-District Litigation (MDL) taking place in Federal Court. The lawsuit seeks as damages the recovery of costs, expenses, and other damages incurred by the County in as a result of the opioid epidemic. The defendants in that litigation include:
- Purdue Pharma L.P. of Stamford, CT
- Cephalon, Inc. of Frazer, PA
- Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of Israel
- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. of North Wales, PA
- Endo International PLC of Ireland
- Endo Health Solutions Inc. of Malvern, PA
- Endo Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Malvern, PA
- Jansen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. of Raritan, NJ
- Insys Therapeutics, Inc. of Chandler, AZ
- Mallinckrodt PLC of the United Kingdom
- Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals of St. Louis, MO
- AmerisourceBergen Corporation of Chesterbrook, PA
- Cardinal Health, Inc. of Dublin, OH
- McKesson Corporation of San Francisco, CA.
Garrett County and Montgomery County are being represented by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP, a national law firm with offices in Washington D.C. “This is a public health crisis affecting nearly every community in the county” Commissioner Edwards said. “There are certain counties across the state where the numbers are much larger, but we are seeing increases in the last year alone. It doesn’t change the need and impact we have here.” He said, “We believe a good start is to aggressively confront one of the root causes of this national epidemic: the pharmaceutical companies and those paid by the pharmaceutical companies who put profits before public health and safety.”
