By Courtney Hessler and Lacie Pierson, The Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia’s cities and counties will get $400 million over 12 years from the nation’s Big Three opioid distributors in a landmark settlement announced Monday.
Lawyers for the state’s cities and counties, excluding Huntington and Cabell County, described the deal with AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson as “record-setting.” The cities and counties sued the distributors accusing them of pumping pills into West Virginia and fueling the opioid epidemic.
“This settlement is an acknowledgment of the downstream devastation caused by the wholesale distribution of a billion … pills throughout West Virginia,” said Paul Farrell, co-lead counsel in the case along with Bob Fitzsimmons.
The announcement comes about a month after the lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial in circuit court. The trial was postponed July 5. A day earlier, a federal judge ruled against Cabell County and Huntington in similar claims in a separate case…
