Delaware County Suing Prescription Opioid Suppliers​

Delaware County is now the first county in Pennsylvania to sue the suppliers of prescription opioids, as well as the medical professionals who prescribe them, as the county announced a major lawsuit Thursday afternoon.

The suit, filed Thursday in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas, targets 11 major drug suppliers and three consulting physicians and is suing for damages.

The defendants, including the three physicians that are referred to as Known Opinion Leaders (KOLs) in the lawsuit, are:

• Purdue Pharma L.P.;
• Purdue Pharma, Inc.;
• The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.;
• Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.;
• Cephalon, Inc.;
• Johnson & Johnson;
• Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;
• Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;
• Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.;
• Endo Health Solutions Inc.;
• Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;
• Dr. Perry Fine;
• Dr. Scott Fishman;
• and Dr. Lynn Webster.

The county says the suppliers and physicians "conspired to deceitfully promote and market the benefits of using opioids to treat chronic pain”

The Delaware County Council, District Attorney Jack Whelan and Sheriff Mary McFall Hopper announced the suit in a joint conference.

The county bills the suit as its first attack in its "war on opioid addiction."

“Today we are sending a message to the big pharma companies named in this lawsuit that Delaware County will not tolerate their well-documented, abusive opioid sales and marketing tactics that are systematically turning patients – including our fellow citizens - into addicts and then fatalities,” Dave White, County Councilman and co-chair of the county’s Heroin Task Force, said.

So far 2017, Delaware County has had 167 drug-related deaths, with 145 of those deaths being opioid-related, according to county officials. The CDC estimates that 89 people die every day from an opioid-related overdose in the U.S., and Pennsylvania is among the highest incidence areas for opioid-related abuse and overdose.

“We will fight this national epidemic of senseless death and destruction with civil litigation, and that is why the top makers of prescription pain-killer opioids are named as defendants, along with the doctors who helped them unleash their outrageous, illegal business practices that put profits – calculated in the billions – over public safety," Whelan, co-chairs of the Heroin Task Force, said.

Trial attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky, will represent the county in the suit.

“We are honored to represent Delaware County as it undertakes this courageous litigation to hold the suppliers of deadly opioids responsible for their conduct, and hold them accountable in the monetary terms they completely understand," Mongeluzzi said. "Money motivates their every deceitful action and we plan to demonstrate at trial that their actions have been cold and calculated, and we will hold them accountable to appropriately compensate Delaware County – on behalf of its citizens – for the harm they’ve inflicted and continue to inflict through their business practices.”

White said the lawsuit "demonstrates that we have to get to the source" of the opioid crisis and went on to say "big pharma suppliers of opioids that have either skirted the law or thumbed their noses at multi-million-dollar fines."

"Enough is enough," White said. "Unlike those companies, the county does not have deep pockets, and we recognize that our costs – including rehabilitation services – is skyrocketing."

Harris L. Pogust, of Pogust Braslow & Millrood, LLC will serve as co-counsel in the litigation. Co-counsel also includes the national firm of Simmons Hadly Conroy.

Pictured above from left are Councilman Michael Culp; District Attorney Jack Whelan; Trial attorney Robert J. Mongeluzzi, of Saltz, Mongeluzzi, Barrett & Bendesky; Councilman John McBlain; Councilman Dave White; Vice Chair Colleen Morrone; Chairman Mario J. Civera, Jr.; and Sheriff Mary McFall Hopper

Image via Delaware County