Douglas County Board OKs settlement in national opioid lawsuit

Shelley Nelson, Superior Telegram, Wis.
·2 min read

Dec. 18—Douglas County will be part of the $26 billion national opioid settlement announced by Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul in August.

The Douglas County Board on Thursday, Dec. 16, approved settlement agreements with McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisource Bergren Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc., as well as memoranda of understanding to allocate settlement proceeds with the attorney general's office.

"This began back in October 2017 for us," said Carolyn Pierce, corporation counsel.

That's when the county board adopted a resolution to become part of the national prescription opioid litigation, Pierce said, which involved more than 20 states. In Wisconsin, 70 counties and 11 municipalities took part in the litigation.

Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Legislature adopted legislation barring additional counties and municipalities from joining the litigation if they hadn't joined the litigation by June 1, Pierce said.

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"What's at stake here is the settlement agreements that are proposed would have a payout of $26 billion nationwide," Pierce said.

Under the terms of the agreement, at least 85% of the proceeds allocated must be used for the abatement of the opioid epidemic.

"I don't foresee us having any difficulty in terms of spending that money appropriately," Pierce said.

Wisconsin's estimated allocation, if all 70 counties and 11 municipalities agree to the settlement, is about $402 million, 70% if which will go to local units of government.

Douglas County will receive roughly $1.5 million dollars from the settlement, Pierce said.

The board unanimously approved the settlement by voice vote.

The Superior City Council, which joined the litigation around the same time as Douglas County, will consider a similar settlement resolution and memoranda of understanding at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21, in the Government Center Boardroom. Officials anticipates receiving about $250,000 from the settlement, city attorney Frog Prell wrote in a memo about the settlement.

In other business, the county board:

— Deferred comment and a proposed zoning change for a hobby farm north of Person Lake in Wascott to its Jan. 18 meeting after a protest of the zoning change was filed in the county clerk's Office. The protest was filed by attorney Steven Overom on behalf of property owners in the area.

— Adopted a resolution supporting the efforts of the Douglas County Sex Trafficking Response Team and the Superior Human Trafficking Task Force Commission.

— Approved spending $10,000 from the county's American Rescue Plan Act funds to shelter homeless individuals who test positive for COVID-19.