Dallas County to sue opioid makers, distributors
Dallas County commissioners have hired three different law firms to sue the opioid industry to try to get back money spent on opioid overdoses and deaths.
The lawsuit will name multiple prescription painkiller manufacturers and distributors. It will accuse them of fueling a nationwide opioid addiction epidemic and allege the makers inflated the benefits of the drugs while downplaying the dangerous addictive risks.
“We're gonna go after these drug distributors that conspired and lied to push opioids out on to patients with a lie that when you’re injured you can take opioids and you won’t get addicted,” said Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins. “The reality is we know that’s not true, this is a worse drug epidemic than anything street pushers devised. It’s cost people their lives, it’s cost taxpayers a whole lot of money primarily through Parkland and we're going to go after these people and get their money back,”
The Tarrant County District Attorney has asked her commissioners to contract with outside counsel for a similarly-styled lawsuit.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has added Texas to a 41 state investigation of companies that manufacture or sell opioids.