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Drug Enforcement Administration

Pasco joins lawsuit seeking opioid settlement

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Pasco County has joined the national trend for municipalities to fight back against distributors and manufacturers of opioid medications.

County commissioners voted to become one of several plaintiffs in litigation that seeks to replicate the kind of payouts attorneys won in the late 1990s against the tobacco industry.

Pensacola-based Levin Papantonio will represent Pasco County. The law firm is part of a consortium that is pursuing lawsuits in several states including West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco (File)

At stake is money that could be made available to the county for drug addiction treatment and the costs to law enforcement.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco spoke in favor of the lawsuit, prior to the county commissioners’ vote on Jan. 23 in New Port Richey.

“We feel the epidemic every day,” Nocco said.

In 2016, Pasco County had 165 drug overdose deaths, and 120 were related to opioids.

This is a legacy of marketing strategies that promoted prescription opioids as safe and nonaddictive, the sheriff said.

“It’s actually a pill that made them addicts,” Nocco said. “Someone is accountable for it. They should be sued,” the sheriff said.

Nocco noted the unexpected consequences from the state’s successful closure of pill mills, which distributed the opioids. He said people addicted to prescription pain medications turned to other sources, including heroin and fentanyl.

The sheriff recalled an instance when officers found a man beating on the chest of a homeless man. Initially, it appeared to be an assault. Instead, Nocco said it was a heroin overdose.

“He was trying to revive him,” Nocco said.

Pasco County deputies routinely carry Narcan, a medication that can help reverse the effects of an overdose.

In December, Pasco County commissioners heard a workshop presentation from attorney Jeff Gaddy, of Levin Papantonio.

The local law firm of Lucas/Magazine initially approached the county about the lawsuit proposal.

No upfront costs will be charged to the county. If a settlement is reached, attorneys would be eligible for a maximum 25 percent contingency fee from the county’s share of the settlement.

The lawsuits are filed against drug distributors and manufacturers. They allege that false claims were made about the safety of opioids, and excessive pill distribution that amounted to a “public nuisance.”

The lawsuits also allege that distributors failed to report suspicious orders to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, as required by law.

Any settlement would seek to establish abatement funds that would be used to recoup public dollars spent battling the opioid crisis.

Published January 31, 2018

Pasco reviewing lawsuit proposal linked to opioid epidemic

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More than 15 years ago, a landmark settlement against tobacco companies netted billions of dollars for plaintiffs who sued over smoking-related illnesses.

The nation’s opioid epidemic may be headed in that same direction.

And, the Pasco County Commission is mulling a proposal to join a growing number of governments that are seeking to recoup public dollars spent battling opioid addictions.

At a Dec. 5 workshop in New Port Richey, Pensacola-based attorney Jeff Gaddy laid out a case for why Pasco should join the legal fray.

County commissioners made no commitment, but accepted a proposal for review.

“We’ll make a decision down the road,” said Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Wells. “We know it’s an epidemic.”

If approved, legal action would be taken on a contingency basis, with Pasco paying no upfront costs and only paying attorneys in the event of a settlement.

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco, who attended the workshop, favors the lawsuit.

“This is a pill epidemic that didn’t have to happen,” he said.

Every deputy now carries a supply of Narcan, the brand name for naloxone. The medication can be used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.

Nocco said 40 people “have been brought back” by deputies and first responders administering Narcan.

Gaddy’s firm is among seven law firms litigating the issue in states including West Virginia, Ohio and Kentucky.

The group has about 120 clients in more than 10 states, and to date has filed more than 80 lawsuits. Some lawsuits could eventually be consolidated into a single lawsuit.

“We are without a doubt the national leader in this litigation,” Gaddy said.

The lawsuits are filed against drug distributors and manufacturers. They allege false claims about the safety of opioids and a massive pill distribution that created a “public nuisance,” he said. “They should be held accountable for it.”

Distributors are required by law to report suspicious orders to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration. But, Gaddy said those rules have been violated.

He cited reports from West Virginia that 780 million pills were distributed over six years in a state with about 1.8 million people.

“It was off the chart by any stretch of the imagination,” Gaddy said.

There are about 800 drug distributors, but Gaddy said three major distributors typically have been named as defendants in lawsuits. They are Cardinal Health, McKesson Corp., and Amerisource-Bergen.

The goal is to force plaintiffs to establish abatement funds that would pay for the drug damages to communities through education programs in schools, costs to law enforcement, and funds to support drug prevention and addiction recovery programs.

Gaddy said, “There is no county in the nation with enough beds to handle the flood of victims of their pills.”

Published December 27, 2017

Their crime-fighting careers inspire crime novels

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Diane and David Munson, two authors from Tampa Bay, draw from their law enforcement careers to create crime thrillers.

In addition to her private practice work as a lawyer, Diane worked as a federal prosecutor.

David was a special agent with what is now known as NCIS (Naval Crime Investigative Service), and also did undercover work for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Local authors Diane and David Munson recently gave a talk at a luncheon meeting of the Lutz Rotary Club (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Local authors Diane and David Munson recently gave a talk at a luncheon meeting of the Lutz Rotary Club
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

They are the co-authors of nine novels and are in the midst of writing another.

Their most recent release, “Embers of Courage,” involves Eva Montanna, a federal agent, whose task force teammate is captured by militants during a CIA operation in Egypt.

Montanna risks her life to defeat tyrants oppressing Christians, and is plunged into a daring rescue mission.

The Munsons also wrote “The Camelot Conspiracy,” which deals with John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and “Stolen Legacy,” which involves World War II and the Monuments Men.

The couple recently spoke at the Lutz Rotary Club luncheon meeting at Heritage Harbor.

They shared their backgrounds and talked about how that experience comes in handy, when they were creating fictional accounts that involve courtroom drama and investigations to track clues to unravel mysteries.

“We like to say that Dave nailed them, and I jailed them,” Diane told those gathered.

She said the most popular question the couple gets is: “Is the NCIS show realistic?”

It is, in a lot of ways, she said. But in real life, investigations and convictions occur at a much slower pace.

As she introduced her husband, she talked about the risks he encountered as an undercover agent.

“Dave really did face danger,” she said, noting he worked on undercover operations that yielded high-level arrests.

David talked about the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and about information the couple gleaned in researching their novel, “The Camelot Conspiracy.”

He brought along some props, too, including photographs of Dealey Plaza, in Dallas, Texas, where JFK was shot.

While he didn’t take a position on whether Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone, he noted there are many interesting questions involving the case.

It doesn’t take much to create a conspiracy, David said.

Essentially, a conspiracy occurs whenever there are two or more people who agree to commit a crime, and one of the co-conspirators commits an overt act, he said.

“Most of the investigations at the federal level involve conspiracies,” he said, noting he was once involved in a case that had 40 co-conspirators.

The ideal way to crack a conspiracy case is to infiltrate the group as an undercover agent, he said, noting that’s precisely what he did when working for the DEA.

In one case, David arrested four associates of former Panamanian President Manuel Noriega, who then testified against the dictator.

Published July 29, 2015