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Monday, August 26, 2019

In national opioid case, lawyers for babies born addicted seek earmarked settlement or verdict money for treatment

Consolidated federal court cases in Cleveland and Akron, set to begin in October, will provide a legal test for how much responsibility drug companies bear for the opioid epidemic. Attorneys representing children across the country who were born addicted to opioids are asking that a portion of settlement or verdict money from the lawsuits be earmarked for long-term treatment of their clients. The funds could be particularly welcome in rural areas, which have a disproportionate share of addicted babies.

"The attorneys, from 20 firms that represent children across the country, insist that a settlement or verdict must yield billions of dollars specifically earmarked for years-long monitoring of the physical and mental health of children born with 'neonatal abstinence syndrome,'" Lenny Bernstein reports for The Washington Post. "Without that guarantee, the attorneys contend, cities and towns are likely to spend any money they receive from drug companies on more pressing and popular needs, as some states did with windfalls from the $206 billion settlement with tobacco companies two decades ago."

The court case combines the lawsuits of about 2,000 cities, counties, tribes and other plaintiffs against about two dozen drug companies.

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