HUNTINGTON – Several West Virginia counties are considering taking legal action against the drug wholesalers who shipped millions of painkillers into the state and fueled the opioid epidemic.
Attorneys for Greene Ketchum Farrell Bailey & Tweel in Huntington made their case in front of the Cabell County Commission and Mercer County Commission earlier this week. They spoke with Mingo County Commission the previous week.
The lawsuits, if filed, are separate from the lawsuit in Boone Circuit Court involving the Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office. That lawsuit was settled earlier this week for approximately $50 million.
The possible lawsuits by Green Ketchum would address the economic impact that was created in each county by the state's opioid epidemic.
In December, McDowell County filed a lawsuit against McKesson Corp., AmerisourceBergen Drug Co., Cardinal Health and a Bluefield physician related to the influx of opioids into the county. That lawsuit was filed by the Bell Law Firm of Charleston, the Troy Law Firm of Charleston and Morgan & Morgan of Tampa, Fla.
Attorney Paul Farrell Jr. of Greene Ketchum said their suits, if filed, would not be associated with the McDowell County suit filed by those three firms.
The three drug companies named in the McDowell lawsuit shipped more than 423 million doses of oxycodone to the state between 2007 and 2012.