Since 2015, local governments around the Country have been united in efforts seeking to hold the manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies of opioids responsible for the harms caused to their residents. The City of Vancouver joined this fight in 2019, filing suit against a number of manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies. That lawsuit was then transferred to the Northern District of Ohio as part of a nationwide multi-district litigation.
On April 4, 2022, Council authorized the City to execute a Memorandum of Understanding that specifies requirements for the expenditure of funds received in the opioid litigation while at the same time establishing a presumptive percentage to which the City of Vancouver would be entitled to receive (roughly 1.73% of anything payable to Washington local governments). Subsequently, the City Council agreed to join the State of Washington's settlements with opioid distributors (AmerisourceBergen Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc., and McKesson Corporation) and retailers (Teva, Walgreens, Walmart, Allergan, CVS), from which the City is expected to receive over $7 million within the next decade. Claims against the defendants who have not settled remain pending.
The One WA MOU permits entities to receive direct payments had exercise discretion over the expenditures thereof provided that they be consistent with approved opioid abatement purposes. To ensure transparency and compliance with this requirement, the One WA MOU requires local governments to form Opioid Abatement Councils (OACs) within their respective regions. Negotiations to create this OAC have been ongoing since last year. Recently, Camas and Washougal have agreed to a proposal from the City for an interlocal agreement (ILA) to meet this purpose.
Under the proposed ILA, each municipality will operate as a subcommittee to ensure its own compliance with the One WA MOU requirements. Each municipality will receive direct payments as a result of any settlement, but and maintains the discretion spend those funds on any approved opioid abatement purposes (see Ex. A to One WA MOU). Ten percent of the funds may be used to cover overhead expenses.
Under the proposed MOU, the City of Vancouver would ultimately recover roughly 1.73% of moneys allocated to local governments in the State of Washington, as outlined in Exhibit B to the MOU. For example, if a settlement with all defendants yielded a distribution of $173 million to Washington's local governments, the City of Vancouver would be entitled to roughly $3 million, all to be used for opioid abatement purposes as outlined in Exhibit A to the MOU.
The MOU does not specify an exact sum for which the City of Vancouver would accept as settlement, but rather established a default allocation structure to facilitate resolution and avoid unnecessary litigation with other Washington and SW Washington jurisdictions.