City of Birmingham and Legal Counsel Baron & Budd, Greene Ketchum, Levin Papantonio File Suit Against Pharmaceutical Distributors for Role in Creating Opioid Crisis

Southern metropolis joins growing number of municipalities to allege Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, McKesson Corp. responsible for expensive opioid epidemic

DALLAS – August 15, 2017 – Today, the national law firm of Baron & Budd; the law firm of Greene, Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweel LLP; and the law firm of Levin Papantonio, announced that they have filed a new lawsuit on behalf of the City of Birmingham against the nation’s largest pharmaceutical distributors for their role in the widespread diversion of prescription opiates for nonmedical purposes.

The City of Birmingham alleges that three Fortune 500 pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, and McKesson Corp. – each played a role in creating a public nuisance by failing to regulate orders of prescription opiates. The case was filed Monday, August 14 in federal district court in the Northern District of Alabama (City of Birmingham v. AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation et al: Case No.: 2:17-cv-01360-JEO).

“What these companies have done to Birmingham and cities throughout the United States is a tragedy,” said Baron & Budd Shareholder, Burton LeBlanc. “We applaud the City of Birmingham for standing up and getting to the source of this problem by working to hold wholesale distributors accountable for their actions.”

Opioids are widely diverted and improperly used throughout Alabama. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), physicians throughout Alabama wrote 5.8 million prescriptions for pain pills in 2015, making it the highest prescribing state in the nation for opioid pain reliever prescriptions. During 2015, about 1.2 million opioid prescriptions were written per Alabama resident, compared to a national average of 0.71 pain prescriptions per resident.

In addition to Greene Ketchum, Levin Papantonio and Baron & Budd, the City is also working with the following law firms related to these cases: Hill, Peterson, Carper, Bee & Deitzler, PLLC; The McHugh Fuller Law Group; and Lancione & Lancione, LLC.

ABOUT BARON & BUDD, P.C.

The law firm of Baron & Budd, P.C., with offices in Dallas, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Austin, Los Angeles, and San Diego, is a nationally recognized law firm with a nearly 40-year history of “Protecting What’s Right” for people, communities and businesses harmed by negligence. Baron & Budd’s size and resources enable the firm to take on large and complex cases. The firm represents individuals and government and business entities in areas as diverse as dangerous pharmaceuticals and medical devices, environmental contamination, the Gulf oil spill, financial fraud, overtime violations, deceptive advertising, automotive defects, trucking accidents, nursing home abuse, and asbestos-related illnesses such as mesothelioma.