City Retains Control Of Opioid Lawsuit

By Steve Burger, WNIN

June 15, 2021

Vote counters state move to consolidate local government lawsuits against opioid manufacturers.

Three years ago, the City of Evansville joined local governments across the country in filing lawsuits against thirty or so opioid manufacturers, distributors and others to recover damages caused by the opioid epidemic.

Speaking on the council’s live stream Monday evening, city attorney Marco DeLucio said that late in this year’s Indiana legislative session, a bill passed that took control of all such lawsuits in the state.

“Kind of unbeknownst to many of us, the attorney general introduced a bill that essentially allowed the state to take over the negotiations, the trial, anything related to the opioid litigation.”

Evansville and other local governments have until the end of the month to opt out of the state’s lawsuit. The council unanimously passed a resolution reclaiming local control of the opioid lawsuit.

No trial date has been set in the case.

WNIN is the NPR/PBS affiliate in Evansville, Indiana. We serve Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois from our multimedia facility located on the Ohio River in downtown Evansville. For the past several years, the recognized quality of our local news has placed us among the best small market radio news organizations in the nation.