Opioid Lawsuits

States and municipalities are filing lawsuits against opioid manufacturers for their role in creating the opioid crisis. These lawsuits also aim to recover costs associated with the opioid epidemic. Individuals and their families are filing lawsuits as well. They seek to recover damages caused by addiction to opioid drugs and the loss of loved ones who overdosed. However, the main plaintiffs in this litigation are states and municipalities.

The central claim of all opioid lawsuits is that drug manufacturers and distributors improperly marketed and distributed opioids to states, cities and towns across the United States. This improper marketing and distribution led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

One example of a state opioid lawsuit is one filed by Letitia James, attorney general for the State of New York.

“From 2000 through 2011, the number of prescriptions for the Manufacturer Defendants’ opioid drugs more than quadrupled nationwide, even though there was no scientific basis for any significant increase in opioid treatment as medically necessary or appropriate,” according to James’ lawsuit.

Opioid litigation is ongoing, and several states and municipalities have reached settlements. Most settlements have been with states and municipalities, as they are the main plaintiffs in this litigation.

The bulk of these actions are being handled in the Northern District of Ohio in multidistrict litigation (MDL) 2804 under Judge Dan A. Polster. As of January 2025, there were still 2,994 active lawsuits pending in the MDL.

Companies being sued in opioid lawsuits include several manufacturers and distributors of opioid medications.

States and municipalities are the main plaintiffs suing these companies. But, some individuals and their families are also included in litigation. They are mainly in lawsuits against Purdue Pharma, the maker of brand name OxyContin.

Drug companies and distributors have agreed to billions in settlements to the Department of Justice, states and municipalities. As part of the terms of settlement, some companies are also providing drugs such as Narcan that will help treat overdoses.

Purdue Pharma proposed one of the only settlements that included funds intended to compensate individuals and their families. As a part of its $6 billion settlement, Purdue allocated $750 million specifically for victims and their families. Each claimant could have received about $3,500 to $48,000, depending on their damages.

However, the Supreme Court blocked that settlement in June 2024, and settlement negotiations must start again.

One of the first settlements came in 2015 when Purdue Pharma agreed to pay the State of Kentucky $24 million. Kentucky’s lawsuits claimed that Purdue misled the public about the addictiveness of prescription opioids.

Since then, there have been billions in state and municipality settlements.

Senator Claire McCaskill of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee investigated opioid distributors and manufacturers and released a series of reports from 2017 to 2018.

Two of these reports are titled “Fueling an Epidemic: Exposing the Financial Ties Between Opioid Manufacturers and Third Party Advocacy Groups” and “Fueling an Epidemic: A Flood of 1.6 Billion Doses of Opioids into Missouri and the Need for Stronger DEA Enforcement.”

Some allegations in lawsuits are based on information contained in these reports.

Fueling an Epidemic: Exposing the Financial Ties Between Opioid Manufacturers and Third Party Advocacy Groups

This report revealed millions in payments from opioid makers to 14 third-party groups from 2012 to 2017. The physicians within these groups were involved in addressing chronic and other opioid-related issues.

“Initiatives from the groups in this report often echoed and amplified messages favorable to increased opioid use—and ultimately, the financial interests of opioid manufacturers,” report authors wrote.

Fueling an Epidemic: A Flood of 1.6 Billion Doses of Opioids into Missouri and the Need for Stronger DEA Enforcement

This report focused on three major drug distributors — McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health — who failed to properly report suspicious opioid orders in Missouri. The report found evidence that companies “knew or should have known that hundreds of millions of pills were ending up on the black market.”

Investigators found these large distributors shipped about 1.6 billion dosage units of opioids to the state from 2012 to 2017. This equals about 52 dosages per person in Missouri.

“These ‘big three’ distributors have also consistently failed to meet their reporting obligations over the past ten years—in some cases surrendering licenses for distribution facilities and paying escalating fines after DEA and Department of Justice investigations,” report authors wrote.

Editor Lindsay Donaldson contributed to this article.