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MARIETTA -- Washington County Commissioners on Thursday held a closed executive session to hear a presentation by an Ohio lawyer about joining a class action lawsuit against pharmacy companies.
The commission, one of them said Friday, remains undecided.
Dale Seif of Seif and McNamee, a law firm from Waverly, Ohio, told the commission it represents government litigants from counties in 14 states who are seeking damages from drug makers and distributors that they allege are partly responsible for the opioid crisis that is killing thousands of people and inflicting social and financial damage on local governments.
Commissioner David White said Friday the commission was given no deadline by the lawyer and is in no hurry to make a decision.
"They presented the imminent litigation, tried to persuade us to become part of the class action," White said. "It involves 14 states and about 150 lawyers, one of those kinds of things."
White said he's not enthusiastic about becoming part of the lawsuit --"The people who come out of this smelling like a rose are the lawyers," he said --but the county has to consider what it might be leaving behind if the litigation is successful.
"People get excited, saying, 'Something has to be done,' but when it's all said and done, suing the manufacturers and distributors of medicine drives up the costs for people using medicine and the insurance companies," he said. "Ultimately, it just falls back on all of us."
Aside from that, it might be an opportunity for the county to recover some of the unknown but certainly astronomical costs the opioid crisis has inflicted on its finances in the past several years, he said.
"The flip side is, if we leave ourselves out of it, we look pretty stupid if it's successful, and that's what our discussion will hinge on," he said. "The question is, what won't we get if we don't participate?"
White said being involved in the lawsuit would almost certainly entail some work for the county.
"They painted it like it's no work for us, just a matter of sitting back, " he said. 'We'll have to take up the issue and decide, discuss it with the prosecutor. We've got some time."
Dale Seif could not be reached for comment on Friday.
Washington County Sheriff Larry Mincks has been in a central position to watch the opioid crisis unfold over the past several years in the county. The question that arises in considering a lawsuit is, what damage judgment would be appropriate?
"I'm not aware of anyone who's done that calculation," Mincks said Friday. "I'm not even exactly sure you could. The pain and suffering of parents, I don't know how you would calculate that."