Officials representing local governments in Arkansas in a lawsuit targeting the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid epidemic said Wednesday that they are in discussions with the state's attorney general to harmonize competing claims, with the goal of obtaining a settlement.
Over the past two years, Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and two local government groups have clashed occasionally over their separate lawsuits aimed at wresting compensation from pharmaceutical companies.
An attorney representing counties and cities across Arkansas said the Association of Arkansas Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League started work in the spring on a draft agreement, which was finalized in April and forwarded to Rutledge's office "for discussion and negotiation."
The attorney, F. Jerome Tapley, made the comments during a session on opioid litigation during the Arkansas Municipal League's virtual convention, which kicked off Wednesday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"That agreement, which will be the framework for restoring Arkansas, has to get finalized," Tapley said in a prerecorded video.
He said the defendants in the opioid litigation not only want a settlement with every county and city at once, but also with the state's attorney general.
Tapley, who is based in Birmingham, Ala., suggested money will begin to flow into Arkansas by next summer as a result of the litigation, but the state must be ready to use those funds for programs related to the crisis such as early intervention, education and drug courts.
All of Arkansas' 75 counties and more than 470 cities and towns are participating in the lawsuit, led by the Association of Arkansas Counties and the Municipal League.
A deal between Rutledge and the associations would end legal jockeying between the two sides on how Arkansas should go after the pharmaceutical companies.
At one point, in April 2018, Rutledge unsuccessfully petitioned the Arkansas Supreme Court to force a local prosecuting attorney working with the organizations to drop his lawsuit, arguing that she was the state's "chief law officer."
In a statement to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday, Rutledge spokeswoman Amanda Priest said, "The Attorney General supports Arkansas's counties and cities lawsuit against the drug manufacturers who have created the opioid epidemic in our State. We continue to aggressively pursue the State's claims."
"Our lawsuits are separate but that does not mean that we can't work together to achieve the best result for Arkansans, including the possibility of jointly settling claims," Priest added.
Like Tapley, the executive director of the municipal league on Wednesday suggested the organizations are in talks with the attorney general about coordinating their efforts.
Mark Hayes said in a video during the conference session that the two organizations' litigation "will be stronger still when we have the state of Arkansas as a true and full partner, and we are talking with the attorney general about that."
According to Hayes, the organizations have proposed to the state and the attorney general a plan whereby proceeds from the lawsuit, either as a result of a verdict or settlement, would be divided up, with 15% going to the state, 15% to counties and 15% to cities and towns.
The remainder of the money would be held in an abatement trust fund, Hayes said.
"Experts tell us [the opioid epidemic] will last for a decade or longer, and we need money to be able to provide treatment centers, doctors, counselors and all of the things necessary to help people," Hayes said.
In a short video message played during the session, Rutledge did not address the possibility of coordinating a settlement. Nevertheless, she thanked Hayes by name for his leadership, explaining that they have met "many times over the past several months and years working through the opioid lawsuits together."
"It's important that we get these resources back to the state and back into your towns, so that way we can address the problem and make sure that we solve the problem -- get people the help that they need to fight this addiction that is hurting so many Arkansans," Rutledge said in the video.
In March 2018, Rutledge sued three opioid manufacturers -- Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Endo Pharmaceuticals -- in Pulaski County's 6th Judicial Circuit Court.
Less than two weeks earlier, dozens of cities and counties represented by the Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties, along with a local prosecuting attorney, Scott Ellington, sued pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors in Crittenden County Circuit Court.
Their lawsuit "is literally the only case of its kind in the nation," Hayes said Wednesday.
In December 2017, the Association of Arkansas Counties filed suit in federal court against Purdue, Johnson & Johnson and others in a lawsuit that was later merged with other suits before a federal judge in the Northern District of Ohio.
Last fall, Rutledge's office said the attorney general was "actively participating" in settlement talks with Purdue Pharma, as state attorneys general and local governments reached a tentative, multibillion-dollar settlement with the company. Some attorneys general, however, have rejected the agreement and want more from Purdue.
The same month, Purdue, the maker of the prescription opioid OxyContin, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy action has the potential to put an end to the manifold lawsuits facing the company and its owners, the Sackler family, related to the opioid crisis.
Tapley said that as one of the participating lawyers, he is optimistic there will be a successful resolution to Purdue's bankruptcy proceedings in federal bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y.
"We'll know in the next 30 to 45 days," he said in the video Wednesday. Pending the resolution and court approval, a settlement deal "is likely to come," he said.
"In litigation, particularly big, complex litigation like the opioid litigation, big settlements with a single defendant often beget further settlements," Tapley said. "Once one defendant has found a way to settle out and achieve peace, other defendants find the wisdom of settlement and peace. It creates momentum."
In his video message, Hayes also explained how the opioid crisis has hit home personally, resulting in a tragic loss for his family.
His 23-year-old stepson Wells Curry Bratton died April 18 after an opioid addiction that lasted for several years, Hayes said. His stepson's struggle began with prescription drugs and later led to the use of heroin and fentanyl, he said.
"This has been a hellish several months for us," Hayes said.
He connected the litigation to "all the families that have suffered this tragedy in Arkansas."