St. Louis County Expands Opioids Case

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Minn. – St. Louis County Attorney Mark Rubin announced Monday that his office has expanded its civil case against drug companies implicated in the opioid epidemic.

In a recent press release, County Attorney Rubin says the new complaint expands St. Louis County’s case in three ways:

• First, it adds state-law claims against more manufacturer defendants, including companies within the Mallinckrodt and Actavis enterprises, more companies within the Purdue and Teva enterprises, and three individual members of the Sackler family, owners of Purdue.
• Second, unlike the original complaint, which was limited to manufacturers, the amended complaint adds state-law claims against opioids distributors, including large national distributors McKesson, Amerisource Bergen, and Cardinal Health, and regional distributors Dakota Drug and two Walmart-affiliated companies.
• Third, the amended complaint includes new claims against certain defendants under a federal law known as the Racketeer Influences and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), which provides for the recovery of triple damages and attorneys’ fees under certain circumstances.

St. Louis County’s case is one of 1400 brought by states, counties and cities across the nation.

The first round of trials in Federal District Court, in cases brought by two Ohio counties, is scheduled to begin on October 21, 2019.