Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear
FRANKFORT, KY – Kentucky Attorney General Andy Beshear has announced that the nine opioid lawsuits he has filed against pharmaceutical companies for allegedly flooding Kentucky communities with dangerous prescription drugs are all now before judges in Kentucky courts.
Beshear has filed lawsuits against AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Insys, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen, Mallinckrodt, McKesson Corporation, Teva and Walgreens on state law allegations that they directly contributed to the state’s drug epidemic.
A ruling this week by a federal judge moved Beshear’s case against Walgreens back to Boone Circuit Court where Beshear first filed it, and means all of Beshear’s opioid lawsuits are now in Kentucky courts.
Beshear’s lawsuit against Walgreens for its dual role as distributor and pharmacy was the only case remaining in federal court after the company had the case removed from a Kentucky court over the summer.
The federal judge’s Jan. 14 ruling, however, said his court has no jurisdiction over state cases filed by state attorneys general and remanded the case back to Kentucky.
“The only way to hold these out-of-state pharmaceutical companies accountable for the harm they have caused our families and communities is to haul them into our courts and make them pay for creating the crisis of our time – our opioid epidemic,” Beshear said. “While we can never bring back a loved one who lost their life to addiction, making these companies face a Kentucky jury can give our families a piece of justice and give our state the money it needs to rebuild our communities.”
Beshear has filed lawsuits in Boone, Fayette, Franklin (two lawsuits), Floyd, Hardin, Jefferson, Madison and McCracken. Kentucky now leads the nation in the number of individual opioid lawsuits filed by an attorney general.
Beshear’s office has won fights to keep his opioid lawsuits from being dismissed by several of the pharmaceutical companies. Circuit judges in Franklin, Madison and McCracken have denied motions to dismiss by Endo Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen and Mallinckrodt, respectively.
McKesson Corporation’s motion to dismiss Beshear’s lawsuit against it is pending a ruling in Franklin Circuit Court. The next hearing on a motion to dismiss is in Floyd Circuit Court from opioid distributor AmerisourceBergen at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 12.
Beshear said if the companies are not willing to reach a settlement for the alleged harm they have caused statewide, he wants each case to go before a Kentucky jury.
Kentuckians can track the progress of Beshear’s opioid cases by visiting ag.ky.gov.
