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Washington, Greene commissioners pursuing lawsuits against pharmaceutical firms

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When Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi was a state trooper, he wasn’t assigned full time to the vice unit, but he sometimes was part of a detail that included making undercover purchases of illegal drugs, including oxycodone, an opioid.

That was one prong of the war on drugs.

On Thursday, Maggi, who retired as a state trooper in 1998, and his fellow board members unanimously voted in favor of another plan of attack, this one on pharmaceutical companies that manufacture opioids.

Maggi and Commissioners Diana Irey Vaughan and Harlan Shober entered into an agreement with two law firms, Marc J. Bern and Partners, LLC, and Robert Peirce and Associates, PC, to represent the county to recover taxpayers’ costs associated with the opioid crisis for a 25 percent contingent fee if the county recovers money, according to the agreement.

“We discussed this with several firms and did our research” over the course of several months, Maggi said. “It’s not just about money, it’s about stopping the problem.”

Attorney Robert Peirce Jr. said his firm will file a complaint in Washington County Court “any day now,” possibly as soon as Friday.

On Wednesday, the Greene County commissioners filed their own lawsuit in that county’s court through Peirce’s law firm, suing several prominent drug manufacturers and asking for monetary relief for fighting the opioid epidemic.

The Greene County lawsuit alleges major drug manufacturers knew of the addictive qualities of their prescription pain medication, but continued to push the drugs onto patients long after they had left the hospital, where it was better controlled and managed. The 88-page complaint claims the county spends millions of dollars each year fighting the epidemic, including $612,811 by the county drug and alcohol program to combat abuse in 2012.

The lawsuit alleges deceptive practices, unjust enrichment, negligence, negligent misrepresentation and public nuisance. The Greene commissioners indicated in mid-October they would sue the drug companies, joining other counties from across the country.

In Washington County, Maggi noted that 75 percent of people at the county jail are “in there for drug-related problems.”

Opioids also affect the courts’ and Children and Youth Services agency’s clientele; those referred to drug and alcohol abuse counseling; infants born with drugs in their systems; and more than 75 percent of the people being supervised by the county’s adult and juvenile probation departments.

“We’ve been incurring these costs for years because of the problem,” Maggi said. “We’re not trying to make a windfall profit.”  

An 83-page complaint the Peirce firm filed on behalf of Beaver County enumerating ways that county has been significantly and negatively impacted due to the alleged misrepresentations and omissions by defendants regarding the appropriate uses and risks of opioids, ultimately leading to widespread inappropriate use of the drugs. 

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