Earlier this year, a handful of pharmaceutical companies reached a multi-million-dollar settlement with Tribal Nations over opioid claims. AmerisourceBergen Corp., McKesson Corp., and Cardinal Health, Inc. (“Distributors”) reached a $439,964,500 settlement with the Tribes while Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc. N/K/A Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., N/K/A Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Janssen”) reached a $150,000,000 settlement.
The majority of the funds from both agreements will go to drug treatment and related programs provided by Tribes and Tribal health care organizations.
As one might expect, none of the companies admitted any liability in the agreement.
What’s Next?
The court-appointed Tribal Leadership Committee and the settling Defendants have entered into settlement Term Sheets summarizing their agreements and are in the process of drafting definitive settlement agreements. All federally recognized Tribes will receive notice of how they may participate in both settlements. Importantly, federally recognized Tribes will be eligible to participate in both settlements regardless of whether the Tribe has previously filed suit against the Settling Defendants. The deal requires approval of 95% of tribes taking part in the litigation.
This settlement is separate from the $75 million deal reached in September 2021 with the Cherokee Nation and distributors.
Comments and Reactions
“This initial settlement for Tribes in the national opioid litigation is a crucial first step in delivering some measure of justice to the Tribes and reservation communities across the United States that have been ground zero for the opioid epidemic,” said Tara Sutton, Chair of Robins Kaplan LLP’s Mass Tort Group. Ms. Sutton acted as one of the negotiators for the plaintiffs’ Tribal Leadership Committee in the negotiations with the settling Distributors.
Chairman Douglas Yankton of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota welcomed this first opioid litigation settlement noting, “American Indians have suffered the highest per capita rate of opioid overdose and are more likely than other group in the United States to die from drug-induced deaths. Given this, the dollars that will flow to Tribes under this initial settlement will help fund crucial, on-reservation, culturally appropriate opioid treatment services.”
Tim Purdon, the Co-Chair of Robins Kaplan LLP’s American Indian Law and Policy Group, added, “At Robins Kaplan, we were one of the first to identify the opportunity for Tribes to exercise their sovereignty by bringing suit, just as State Attorneys General did, against the companies that created and drove the opioid epidemic. This is the first time in history that Tribal Nations in these numbers have participated in nationwide mass tort litigation at this scale.”