North Carolina’s Yadkin County has recently filed a prescription opioid addiction lawsuit against a number of pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors it believes are responsible for the county’s opioid crisis.

According to the lawsuit, as plaintiff, Yadkin County is “authorized by law to abate any nuisance and prosecute in any court of competent jurisdiction any person who creates, continues, contributes to, or suffers such nuisance to exist and prevent injury and annoyance from such nuisance.”

The prescription opioid addiction lawsuit is filed in North Carolina’s federal court and names more than two dozen defendants including Janssen Pharmaceuticals and parent company Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Endo Pharmaceuticals, Actavis Pharma and other corporations responsible for the manufacture and distribution of opioids.

The prescription opioid addiction lawsuit centers around allegations that the defendants misrepresented the risks and benefits of medications. The lawsuit claims the dangerous addiction risks were grossly understated and that the assurances were false, deceptive and unfair. Benefits of these drugs were also grossly overstated, according to the claim.

Additionally, the county claims the defendants who manufactured the drugs purposely targeted vulnerable patients and susceptible prescribers in its marketing. Allegations also say the manufacturers made deceptive statements, concealed material facts and fraudulently concealed their misconduct.

As for the distributors, the claim alleges that these companies unlawfully distributed opioids by breaching their duties, failing to guard against, report and prevent suspicious orders and misrepresenting their compliance with their legal duties.

“Because of the dangerously addictive nature of these drugs, the Distributor Defendants’ manufacturing, marketing, sales, and distribution practices unlawfully caused an opioid and heroine plague an epidemic in the State and Plaintiff’s Community,” the lawsuit states.

“Each Defendant had a … duty to guard against and prevent the diversion of prescription opioids to other than legitimate medical, scientific, and industrial channels.”

The prescription opioid addiction lawsuit raises a number of counts against the distributors and manufacturers. The first count in the prescription opioid addiction lawsuit claims that the companies’ actions are a public nuisance.

The second and third counts claim that the companies engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity prohibited by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, including mail fraud and wire fraud. The county also claims that the defendants “manufactured, sold and/or dealt in controlled substances and their crimes are punishable as felonies,” creating an opioid diversion enterprise.

Other counts raised in the lawsuit include negligence and negligent misrepresentation, negligence per se, deceptive trade practices under North Carolina common-law and general statutes, civil conspiracy, fraud and fraudulent misrepresentation and punitive damages.

Yadkin County is seeking an injunction to prohibit the defendants “from engaging in unfair or deceptive practices in violation of law and ordering temporary, preliminary or permanent injunction,” past and future costs to abate the ongoing public nuisance caused by the opioid crisis, awarding actual, trouble and punitive damages, injunctive and equitable relief, attorneys’ fees and costs, awarding judgment against the defendants and requiring them to pay punitive damages and any additional relief as deemed just and proper by the court.

The Prescription Opioid Addiction Lawsuit is Case No. 1:17-cv-01085 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, Greensboro Division.

In general, opioid addiction lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual opioid addictino lawsuit or opioid addiction class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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