PARKERSBURG –There is one more defendant in the state’s opioid abuse lawsuits and the Wood County Commission received an update from the attorneys working on lawsuits the county is a part of with other cities and counties around the state.

Attorneys Eric Holmes and Kevin Harris, of Harris & Holmes in Ripley, appeared before the commission Thursday to discuss recent settlements in the state’s opioid lawsuits with different companies.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced a $83 million settlement earlier this week in an opioid lawsuit between West Virginia and Walgreens.

Harris & Holmes of Ripley is representing six counties locally which have created the Mid-Ohio Valley Alliance for Opioid Litigation. It consists of Pleasants, Ritchie, Wood, Wirt, Roane and Jackson counties.

The attorneys said the Walgreens settlement is significant because of the relatively low marketshare the company had within the state.

“That was a really aggressive settlement,” Holmes said.

There is only one defendant left, Kroger, and they are expecting to go to court on the case in June. Holmes said the company has filed a number of motions to get the trial date changed, but have not been successful so far.

“That is the only one left out of the manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies,” Holmes said.

Kroger settled for $50 million in New Mexico recently, the attorneys told the commission.

However, the attorneys did not think they were anywhere near those amounts in the discussions with West Virginia, they said.

The other defendants have settled for a total of around $900 million with the state with the possibility of more coming in.

A regional council will be in charge of dividing the money made up of six regions based on the Department of Health and Human Resources regions. Each region will have a representative on a board which will determine how the money will be allocated out of an abatement fund.

“This has been a long process,” Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said.

“This is the most complex litigation to ever have transpired in West Virginia,” Holmes said.

The commission and the attorneys went into an executive session to discuss certain matters about the cases in more detail.

Couch said there are concerns when the money might arrive and they would like to see a local representative on the council tasked with distributing the money.

“The money is basically to reimburse us for our jail bill, for our sheriff’s expense, for our prosecuting attorney’s office expense and all the things that came into play over the opioids,” he said. “We will see how everything comes out in the wash.

“We are excited to get those funds and put them to work for Wood County.”

Couch said the Wood County Sheriff’s Department needs more deputies and the prosecutor’s office needs more prosecutors.

“Those are the people impacted by the opioid crisis,” he said.

Early estimates have Wood County receiving between $5 million to $10 million, Couch said.

“Since that will be a reimbursement that means we can plug it where we need it,” he said.

In other business:

* The commission awarded the bid for the demolition of 2 Turtle Lane, Davisville, to Graham Demolition of Parkersburg for $3,500. The property had trash, debris and more around and in the home described as a trailer. The property owner is letting the county take over the property to clean up and have a lien put on it so when it sells the county could recoup its money.

* The commission appointed Andy Daniels to the Wood County Airport Authority.

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com