Westmoreland County signs on to $26B settlement in opioid lawsuit

Westmoreland County on Monday signed up to be part of a proposed $26 billion national settlement with three major drugmakers to end a lawsuit over the ongoing opioid epidemic.

The county and its 11 largest municipalities would receive up to $22 million over the next 18 years, commissioners said.

“This is money we can use. It’s money that can be used to address opioid use, to fund drug court and other programs,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said.

The settlement would end thousands of lawsuits filed by state and local governments against McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp., as well as manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc. and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson.

In all, the deal signed last summer by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro is expected to generate about $1 billion that would be split among the state, counties and local municipalities. The deadline to sign on to the deal is Jan. 2. Total funds Pennsylvania is to receive will be based on the number of municipalities that sign on.

The amount earmarked to Westmoreland County is contingent on the number of eligible local municipalities that agree to participate, according to solicitor Melissa Guiddy. Those municipalities with populations of more than 10,000 residents are: Greensburg, Lower Burrell, Murrysville, New Kensington and Derry, Hempfield, Mt. Pleasant, North Huntingdon, Penn, Rostraver and Unity townships.

The money would be paid out over 18 years. Officials said a county board, which is expected to include representatives from each of the municipalities involved, will determine how the money is distributed, Commissioner Gina Cerilli Thrasher said.

The first installment is expected to be paid in 2022.

District attorneys in Allegheny and Philadelphia counties have challenged the settlement. They filed a lawsuit seeking to stop it from being executed in Pennsylvania, claiming the deal would not sufficiently pay for the loss of life and damages caused by the opioid epidemic in their counties.

Deaths attributed to opioid addictions and abuse skyrocketed over the past decade, according to statistics compiled by the Westmoreland County Coroner’s Office. The county recorded 64 overdose deaths in 2011. That number rose every year through 2017, when a record 193 people died from overdoses, according to the coroner. Those numbers eased slightly over the next two years, but in 2019 overdoses again started to climb.

The coroner recorded 123 fatal overdoses last year. The county had 120 confirmed or suspected deaths attributed to drugs through Oct. 1, the latest figures available this year.

A study done in 2017 by Controller Jeff Balzer found Westmoreland spent $18.8 million the previous year to pay for criminal justice programs, law enforcement, coroner’s expenses, detention costs and prevention and education efforts related to drug addiction and abuse.

The county filed its own lawsuit in 2017 against 27 national drugmakers, doctors, pharmacies and other parties related to the opioid epidemic. That case is still pending in Delaware County, along with lawsuits filed by dozens of other Pennsylvania counties and municipalities. In 2019, county commissioners removed Westmoreland County from a potential federal settlement of that litigation.