Agenda Item Name:
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Opioid litigation and special counsel agreement.
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Presenter:
Sylvia Torres, County Attorney
Description:
The County Attorney wants to update the Board on the progress of the Opioid litigation and request the Board to update the representation agreement with Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC to include additional parties which has previously been authorized by the County Attorney to protect the County’s ongoing interest in the litigation. The prior agreement was a broad agreement for representation in all matters related to the opioid litigation. This agreement continues this authorization. One change is that due to changes in personnel this agreement is only with the Napoli Shkolnik firm.
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Recommended Action:
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Approve the County Attorney’s request to update the Special Counsel Agreement, to ratify the County Attorney’s past authorization to add additional parties, and authorize the County Attorney to authorize the adding of additional parties in the future as may be recommended by outside counsel.
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Fiscal Consideration:
fiscal consideration
The Fee Agreements are contingent in nature, and to this point the settlements in the opioid cases throughout the State of Florida have resulted in payment to the County, and will result in payment in the future to use for mitigation, education, and treatment for opioid addiction.
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Strategic Guide:
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Social and Economic Opportunity
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Background:
On January 23, 2018, Alachua County executed a Contingency Fee Agreement with outside counsel Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC and Stull, Stull & Brody as the Board’s attorneys in the prosecution of any legal claim against manufactures and distributors of opioids arising out of the manufacturers’ and distributors’ fraudulent and negligent marketing and distribution of opioids.
By participating in litigation, it provides the County with a seat at the negotiation table through our outside counsel rather than just relying upon the Attorney General.
The Board has previously delegated authority to the County Manager to sign settlement paperwork and the necessary participation paperwork sent by the Attorney General related to participation in the State settlement program.
Previous agenda items concerning the opioid litigation:
#21-0641 - approval of confirmation of the Purdue bankruptcy plan.
#21-0845 - approval of Resolution to join the State of Florida and other municipalities as a participant in the Unified Plan allocating opioid settlement proceeds.
#22-0348 - approval of the settlements with CVS, Allergan Finance and TEVA.
#22-0426 - approval of the settlement with Walgreens.