Opioid abuse has impacted all of Indiana’s counties, and drug manufacturers and distributors deserve at least some of the blame, according to attorney Jeff Gibson with Indianapolis law firm Cohen and Malad. “The deal with manufacturers is beginning in the late ’90s, they created a market for this pill, for which it was never intended, and they over-promoted this thing way beyond what the label indicates,” he told the Pulaski County Council and Commissioners last week.
Gibson added that drug distributors also fell short on their obligation to report suspicious orders. “I would say that 10 million pills going into a town of 700 people over the course of five years is pretty suspicious. So what happens are the pills got diverted, and they got onto the streets.”
Now, Cohen and Malad is leading a class action lawsuit on behalf of several government entities around the state. Pulaski and Marshall counties have recently signed on.
Pulaski County Attorney Kevin Tankersley had recommended that the commissioners join the effort, but he admitted that he was skeptical at first. “I would have to say in 21 years of practicing criminal law, I did not see a prescription case, probably, in the first five years I practiced law, somebody being charged with having an illegal prescription drug,” he explained. “It was all cocaine, heroin, marijuana, your street drugs, if you will. I see one of those street drug cases now for every 20 prescription drug cases because the prescription drugs are easier to get and they’re better.”
Tankersley said Pulaski County also heard from other law firms, but he felt that Cohen and Malad was the only one large enough to handle the case. “It’s a massive litigation,” he said. “This could take years in federal court against very big defendants that will have multi-billion-dollar budgets. So it’s nothing any small firm could take on, and what I liked about it is that it’s a straight one-third contingency fee. They collect a third of what they collect for us. It’s no risk. They’re paying all of the costs, and if they lose, they eat all of the costs. We don’t pay anything back.”
Gibson said that the cases against the drug manufacturers and distributors have been consolidated in front of a federal judge in Cleveland. He added that if the case were to go to trial, it would likely take place in Hammond or South Bend.
