City of Salem Sues Opioid Manufacturers, Distributors, Board Members, and Executives

The City of Salem has sued the pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, board members and executives who caused the nation’s devastating opioid epidemic. Salem joins hundreds of governmental entities nationwide that have filed lawsuits in connection with the deceptive marketing and reckless distribution of prescription opioids. The law firm Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP represents Salem in the litigation.

“Like so many communities across Massachusetts, Salem has been hard hit by the opioid epidemic,” said Mayor Kim Driscoll. “While the most devastating cost has been in human lives, this epidemic has also strained our budgets and diverted resources from the police, fire, and other departments whose first responders protect public safety. Through this suit we are seeking to recoup from the opioid manufacturers, distributors, and key individual executives and board members, the massive amount of money our community has already spent on combating the effects of opioid addiction, and to substantially fund the costs we expect to incur into the foreseeable future to address the crisis these drugs have wrought.”

The City of Salem filed its civil complaint in Essex Superior Court on December 3, 2018. The complaint alleges that pharmaceutical manufacturers misled the medical community and the public about the risks and benefits of prescription opioids, that pharmaceutical distributors failed to monitor and control the drugs’ supposedly closed distribution network, and that various board members and executives personally sanctioned the corporate defendants’ actions. Salem’s complaint was filed simultaneously with similar actions brought by Haverhill, Gloucester, Framingham, Lynnfield, and Wakefield and follows a complaint filed by the City of Worcester in July 2018. Scott+Scott represents all seven municipalities. 

“We are honored to have been selected to represent Salem in this important lawsuit,” said Judy Scolnick of Scott+Scott. “The dedicated employees of Salem are doing all they can to try to ameliorate the devastation left in the wake of the defendant manufacturers’ and distributors’ greed-driven scheme to increase the sale of opioid pills – which are basically heroin in their molecular structure and effect on human opioid receptors – with little or no regard to their safety or efficacy. The false and deceptive marketing and reckless distribution of opioids has caused an increase in the disease of addiction with all the ensuing fallouts from this disease: death, overdoses, increased demand on police, fire, EMT, and courts, and a diversion of taxpayer revenue to address prevention, re-education, needs of children, the elderly and other family members who have been torn apart by their own or a loved one’s addiction.  While no amount of money can fairly compensate Salem for the nuisance that the defendants have created, we intend to pursue this case vigorously so Salem is not left to shoulder the burden of the defendants’ greed without substantial contribution from the defendants for past damages and to abate the ongoing nuisance.”

“While this action will not undo all the damage caused by the opioid crisis or bring back the dozens of lives lost here in Salem to these drugs, it will ensure that those who are responsible for this crisis are held accountable and the costs for addressing it are borne by them – not by Salem taxpayers,” added Mayor Driscoll. “We will continue all the work underway through our addiction intervention program, educational efforts in our schools, and the increased availability of naloxone, in order to address this epidemic on the ground. In the meantime, I hope the court will recognize the culpability of those who knowingly made, promoted, and profited from these destructive substances.”