Illinois Counties have begun to file complaints against manufacturers of prescription opioid painkillers. Meyers & Flowers, along with Simmons Hanly Conroy, filed a series of lawsuits on behalf of Illinois’ Cook County, DuPage County, Kane County, Will County, McHenry County, Bureau County, Champaign County and Macon County against the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies over their manufacture and aggressive marketing of prescription opioid painkillers and the resulting climb in overdose and fatality rates ravaging families and communities throughout the counties and the entire state.
The defendants in the lawsuits for DuPage County, Kane County, Will County, and McHenry County are: Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Abbott Laboratories; Abbott Laboratories, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman; and Dr. Lynn Webster.
According to data from the Illinois Department of Public Health, opioids contributed to nearly 1,200 overdose deaths in Illinois in 2016. The Illinois Department of Public Health reports that more Illinoisans died from an opioid-related drug overdose (due to heroin and prescription opioid pain relievers) in 2014 than from homicide or motor vehicle accidents. Illinois is one of 14 states that has seen an 8.3 percent increase in overdose deaths.
Apart from the toll on human life, this crisis has financially strained the services counties, cities and towns provide to its residents and employees. Human services, social services, family services, court services, law enforcement services, and health services, including hospital, emergency, and ambulatory services, have all been severely impacted as the crisis continues to grow.
Illinois' Opioid Crisis in the News
The Meyers & Flowers team is applying their expertise in taking on the pharmaceutical industry as they help counties and municipalities fight back against the opioid epidemic.
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