Simon Greenstone Panatier Law Firm Proud of $1.85 Billion Texas Opioid Settlement

Mar 21, 2022

Pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors will reimburse state, local governments with cash and overdose medications

Simon Greenstone Panatier, PC, announced today that the firm’s lead attorney in opioid litigation, Jeffrey B. Simon, working with a committee of trial lawyers and the Office of the Texas Attorney General, have reached historic settlements totaling $1.85 billion for Texans in the state’s ongoing opioid multidistrict litigation (MDL).

Members of the negotiating team that secured these opioid settlements included Dara Hegar of The Lanier Law Firm, Mikal Watts and Shelly Sanford of the firm Watts Guerra, attorney Dan Downey, and Ken Paxton and Lesley French of the Texas Office of the Attorney General.

The settlements were executed with several drug companies and distributors in the opioid supply chain, including Johnson & Johnson, Endo Pharmaceuticals, McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Teva Pharmaceuticals and AmerisourceBergen.

A $1.775 billion cash award will reimburse local governments and the state of Texas for costs associated with opioid abuse and fund an intensive harm-reduction program to combat the ongoing epidemic. Additionally, $75 million is earmarked for NARCAN® Nasal Spray, a life-saving drug that can reverse opioid overdoses when administered in time, to be distributed across the state.

“Our firm is especially proud of our client Dallas County,” Simon observed. “Through its dedication to aggressively prosecuting its civil case, Dallas County has led the way in holding specific prescription opioid drug companies responsible for their roles in fueling the opioid epidemic. We thank the Honorable Robert Schaffer who has presided over the Texas Opioid MDL, for his skill and efforts in managing this litigation. I am also very gratified to see how trial lawyers, healthcare professionals, and public servants across a broad political spectrum found true common purpose and worked together in this resolution process on behalf of all Texans.”

About Simon Greenstone Panatier

Simon Greenstone Panatier, PC, is a nationally recognized trial law firm with a reputation for creative and aggressive representation of clients in a wide variety of catastrophic personal injury matters nationwide.