Scott County sues opioid firms for damages, adding to list of governments seeking damages

Scott County government has sued a St. Louis-based manufacturer of prescription opioids and its subsidiary for damages.

The six-count lawsuit was filed earlier this month in St. Louis County Circuit Court against Mallinckrodt and SpecGx LLC.

It accuses the defendants of negligence and fraud, and creating a public nuisance.

It seeks “reimbursement of public costs expended fighting the opioid epidemic and a claim for future costs in continuing attempts to finance community efforts in stopping the problem and repairing the harm.”

As of Friday, defendants had not filed a response to the lawsuit.

Scott County government has incurred costs associated with “law enforcement, public safety, medical care and treatment,” according to the suit.

The lawsuit does not specify damages above the standard “in excess of $25,000” request.

Kansas City attorney Christopher Louis Schnieders, representing the plaintiff, wrote in the petition Scott County government has been saddled with costs for “providing medical care and treatment, including medical examiners to determine the cause of overdoses and deaths.”

Public-safety costs include “law enforcement, paramedics, jail space, drug task forces, overtime hours and various related costs to combating the illegal diversion of opioids, fentanyl and heroin trafficking,” Schnieders wrote.

The opioid epidemic has led to increases in workers’ compensation costs, the lawsuit states.

Opioids kill about 60,000 people a year in the United States, according to the suit.

“Defendants intentionally and/or unlawfully distributed opioids or caused opioids to be distributed without reporting or refusing to fill suspicious orders or taking other measures to maintain effective controls against diversion,” the petition states.

“This case is about one thing; corporate greed. Defendants put their desire for profits above the health and well-being of the plaintiff, its residents and consumers, all at the cost of the plaintiff,” Schnieders wrote.

Scott County is one of several Missouri counties that have gone to court in an effort to recover expenses related to the opioid epidemic.

Ten Missouri counties, including Cape Girardeau County, and the City of Joplin filed suit last year against 49 manufacturers, distributors, pharmacies and prescription benefit managers alleging they misled communities, doctors and residents about opioids by claiming they were the proper treatment for chronic pain and were not addictive.

The original lawsuit was filed in state court last summer, then transferred to federal court. The plaintiffs voluntarily dismissed the suit Nov. 11.

A new suit was filed in January in the City of St. Louis, but has since been moved to federal court.

State governments also are suing pharmaceutical companies over opioid use and addiction.

Missouri is one of about three dozen states that have filed lawsuits.

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