MADISON – The prescription drug distributors being sued by the state through the attorney general are seeking a closed hearing so they can explain why they have sought to keep information about pill shipments under wraps.
Boone Circuit Judge William Thompson granted the records in the suit be unsealed on May 6 after the Charleston Gazette-Mail requested them to be unsealed, citing the public’s right to know.
The companies were given two weeks to appeal the order to the West Virginia Supreme Court of appeals or to settle the lawsuit, which would’ve kept the pull shipment numbers sealed.
On May 18, the distributors filed a motion to revise the judge’s decision and requested a hearing that would be closed to news media and the general public.
The lawsuit was filed by former Attorney General Darrell McGraw in 2012 against the drug distributors, alleging they fueled the state’s prescription drug problem by shipping excessive numbers of painkillers to pharmacies in West Virginia.
Attorney General Patrick Morrisey inherited the suit when he took office. He recused himself from the case in January, following a state Lawyer Disciplinary Board investigation into his past ties to the drug companies.
Morrisey previously lobbied for a group that represents most of the drug wholesalers in the lawsuit and while the LDB concluded he did not violate any ethics rules, it suggested he step aside from the suit to avoid the appearance of impropriety.
Morrisey assigned the case to Chief Operating Officer Anthony Martin and Deputy Attorney General Vaughn Sizemore.
Boone Circuit Court case number: 12-C-141