The Woodstock City Council has voted to emulate governments ranging from tiny Candler County in southeast Georgia to Fulton and DeKalb counties in metro Atlanta in suing the pharmaceutical industry over opioid painkillers.
The council voted to participate in an opioid class action lawsuit on March 12 and on March 26, passed a resolution to pursue legal action, saying drugmakers knew of the dangers and addictiveness of opioids, yet “purposefully set out to persuade providers, regulators and patients that their products were safe and effective.”
Woodstock retained J. Anderson Davis and his law firm Brinson, Askew, Berry, Seigler, Richardson & Davis LLP to represent it. The law firm will bear the costs of litigation and will receive no compensation or reimbursement unless a recovery is realized, according to its retention agreement with the city.
Hundreds of plaintiffs, mostly county and local governments, are pursuing legal action against drugmakers over the powerful painkillers blamed for thousands of deaths around the country.
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