A judge dealt Baltimore City a huge blow in its attempt to hold opioid companies responsible for their role in the overdose crisis that hit the area harder than any other American city in recent years.
Baltimore City Circuit Judge Lawerence Fletcher-Hill ruled Thursday that a jury awarded too much liability and money to the city for the role two companies, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, played in the opioid crisis.
“The city and its taxpayers bear many costs of responding to these intractable problems,” Fletcher-Hill wrote. “The difficult question in this action is the extent to which two distributors of prescription opioid medications can be held liable for this complex problem.”
In a Thursday ruling Fletcher-Hill said the jury placed too much liability on the companies and that the liability money the jury awarded was too high.
“The jury’s award of damages reflects a conclusion that the unreasonable conduct of these two distributor Defendants creates legal responsibility for 97% of the entirety of the harm experienced by the City for the public nuisance from 2011 through 2029 in the future,” Fletcher-Hill wrote. “The Court concludes that the extent of the liability imposed cannot be justified by the evidence presented at trial.”
Fletcher-Hill suggested a $52 million liability from the companies instead. McKesson would pay $37.4 million and AmerisourceBergen would pay $14.4 million.
The judge also offered the city the option for a retrial.
“This decision is disappointing to say the least. We are evaluating the decision and considering all of our options,” Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “As the only municipality in the country to secure verdicts against these two companies, which were responsible for the bulk of the opioids flooding into Baltimore, we will continue to fight — just as we have fought for our city every step of the way through this litigation process.”
AmerisourceBergen, now known as Cencora, said in a statement that, “We are reviewing the judge’s decision and evaluating next steps.”
After the jury found the companies liable last year, the city submitted a $5 billion abatement plan to Fletcher-Hill detailing how much the city would need to remediate the damage and prevent future overdoses.
Baltimore loses about 6,000 people a year to opioid overdoses.
The 90-page plan stated if the correct actions are taken the city can bring down overdose fatalities by 23% over the next 15 years.
“They’re showing the court they are prepared, they've done advanced planning,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Virginia. “To answer questions like ‘What are the techniques what are the procedures for abatement?’”
The plan included Naloxone vending machines, overdose prevention sites, wound care kits and investment in drug treatment programs.
Baltimore’s trials against McKesson and AmerisourceBergen began as the city decided to strike out on its own and sue opioid companies individually rather than sign on to a global settlement.
The city has already won more than it would have gotten through the global settlement by coming to deals with other companies for more than $400 million.
