Title
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING PARTICIPATION IN NATIONAL PRESCRIPTION OPIOID SETTLEMENT.
Body
CITY PROPOSAL:
WHEREAS, the state of Minnesota and numerous Minnesota cities and counties, are engaged in nationwide civil litigation against manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids related to the opioid crisis ("Prescription Opioid Litigation"); and
WHEREAS, in April 2019, the city of Duluth filed its own lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of prescription opioids (Case No. 0:19-CV-01077; MDL No. 1:17-MD-2804) and joined the Prescription Opioid Litigation; and
WHEREAS, state governments have negotiated proposed nation-wide settlements ("Opioid Litigation Settlements") with some defendants, i.e., distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen (collectively, "Settling Distributors"), and manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceutical, Inc., and its parent company, Johnson & Johnson (collectively "Settling Manufacturer"); and
WHEREAS, there is a deadline of January 2, 2022, for a sufficient threshold of Minnesota cities and counties to sign on to the above-referenced Opioid Litigation Settlements; and
WHEREAS, the amount of settlement funds to be received by the state of Minnesota and its political subdivisions is directly tied to participation and timely sign-on by local government entities in the Opioid Litigation Settlements; and
WHEREAS, representatives of Minnesota's local governments, the office of the attorney general, and the state of Minnesota have reached agreement on the intrastate allocation of these settlement funds between the state, and the counties and cities, as well as the permissible uses of these funds, which will be memorialized in the Minnesota Opioids State-Subdivision Memorandum of Agreement (the "State-Subdivision Agreement"); and
WHEREAS, during negotiations of the State-Subdivision Agreement, representatives of Minnesota's counties prioritized flexibility in how local governments may use settlement funds for ...
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