Title
County Counsel recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign the Professional Services Agreement between the County of El Dorado (County) and Baron & Budd, P.C.; Greene Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweed, LLP; Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler PLLC; Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, PA; McHugh Fuller Law Group; Powell & Majestro, PLLC for legal services to represent the County in connection with the National Prescription Opiate Litigation.
Body
This Agreement retains Counsel on a contingency fee basis. The attorney’s fees and costs will be paid from any settlement or judgement in favor of the County. If there is no recovery, the County will not be liable to Counsel for attorney’s fees or costs incurred.
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
County Counsel recommending the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign the Professional Services Agreement (“Agreement”) between the County of El Dorado (“County”) and Baron & Budd, P.C.; Greene Ketchum, Farrell, Bailey & Tweed, LLP; Hill Peterson Carper Bee & Deitzler PLLC; Levin, Papantonio, Thomas, Mitchell, Rafferty & Proctor, PA; McHugh Fuller Law Group; Powell & Majestro, PLLC for legal services to represent the County in connection with the National Prescription Opiate Litigation.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Across the nation, states, counties, and cities are filing lawsuits against the manufacturers and distributors of prescription opiod painkillers, such as OxyContin. These manufacturers and distributors engaged in a campaign of misinformation regarding the addictive nature and efficacy of these narcotics. The results can be seen in the increased costs to communities dealing with what has been described as an epidemic.
Several months ago our office began discussions with other small rural counties to determine the level of interest in pursuing litigation against the manufacturers and distributors of opiods. We recognized that individually our counties would be ...
Click here for full text