Attorney General James To Deliver Up To $1.5 Billion To Combat Opioid Crisis From Harlem To The Hudson

New York Attorney General Letitia James today began her statewide ‘HealNY’ tour of New York state, where she will begin delivering the first of up to $1.5 billion to combat the opioid epidemic. The funds — which will go to all 10 regions of the state — come from different settlements Attorney General James has negotiated following her March 2019 lawsuit against the various manufacturers and distributors responsible for the opioid crisis. While Attorney General James’ tour will make stops in dozens of counties throughout the month of October, all 62 counties in New York state will receive funds from the various settlements.

“For more than two decades, New Yorkers have experienced the dire and deadly effects of opioids, but today we are starting the process of delivering up to $1.5 billion to New York’s 62 counties to help our communities rebuild,” said Attorney General James. “Today, we begin to heal New York with these funds that will help turn the tide on the opioid crisis. As we embark on a tour across the state, we are ensuring every region and every county gets financial help to recover from the devastation that opioids have inflicted on them. The funds we’re infusing into New York today and going forward will be used towards combatting this epidemic with investments in prevention, treatment, and recovery. While no amount of money will ever compensate for the millions of addictions, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, or the countless families torn apart by opioids, this money will be vital in preventing future devastation.”

The lawsuit Attorney General James filed in 2019 was, at the time, the nation’s most extensive lawsuit against the various manufacturers and distributors of opioids. These manufacturers and distributors were responsible for heavily marketing opioids to doctors, hospitals, health care systems, and others, which led to the over prescription of the drugs across New York and the rest of the nation over the last two decades. The manufacturers named in Attorney General James’ complaint included Purdue Pharma and its affiliates, as well as members of the Sackler Family (owners of Purdue) and trusts they control; Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates (including its parent company Johnson & Johnson); Mallinckrodt LLC and its affiliates; Endo Health Solutions and its affiliates; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates; and Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates. The distributors named in the complaint were McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, and Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc.

Last month, a settlement with Endo was announced that has already delivered $50 million to New York state and Nassau and Suffolk counties to combat the opioid crisis and remove the opioid manufacturer from New York’s ongoing opioid trial.

Also, last month, a settlement that secured more than $4.5 billion — at least $200 million of which will be earmarked for New York — from the Sackler family and foundations that they control, ends the Sacklers’ ability to manufacture opioids ever again, and will shut down Purdue Pharma was announced.

In July, a settlement with McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen that will deliver up to $1 billion to New York state to combat the opioid epidemic was announced.

In June, a settlement that ended Johnson & Johnson’s sale of opioids nationwide and that will deliver $230 million to New York alone was announced. The deals with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen have a global value of approximately $26 billion.

The cases against Mallinckrodt and Rochester Drug Cooperative are now moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The trial against the two remaining defendants — Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and Allergan Finance — is currently underway and continues in state court.

Pursuant to the new law establishing the opioid settlement fund, all funds collected by the state from opioid settlements or litigation victories will be allocated specifically for abatement efforts in communities devastated by the opioid epidemic and will not go towards the state’s general fund.

Every region, and specifically every county, in the state will receive millions of dollars for prevention, treatment, and recovery programs to combat the opioid crisis.

The figures listed below represent the minimum and maximum amounts each region can receive from the settlements with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, Amerisource Bergen, and Endo. The more localities across the state that agree to the terms of these different settlements, the more each locality is eligible to receive. The figures below do not include payments from Purdue Pharma or the Sackler family, as the regional split for those settlements are still being finalized. Those funds, as well as any funds from future or ongoing litigation, would be in addition to what is listed below.

New York City Total: $140,173,322.11 – $256,458,972.37

Long Island Total: $139,295,547.73 – $228,312,213.24*

• Nassau County: $63,324,249.44 – $102,163,656.72*
• Suffolk County: $75,971,298.29 – $126,148,556.52*

Hudson Valley: $51,729,983.90 – $94,455,606.10**

• Dutchess County: $3,682,781.87 – $6,433,863.62
• Orange County: $4,360,832.35 – $7,618,425.84
• Putnam County: $996,022.69 – $1,740,063.46
• Rockland County: $2,590,593.17 – $4,525,797.00
• Sullivan County: $1,587,590.46 – $2,773,539.37
• Ulster County: $2,070,408.78 – $3,617,028.70
• Westchester County: $10,678,857.89 – $18,888,019.80***

Capital Region Total: $17,812,303.23 – $32,524,114.04**

• Albany County: $3,237,298.22 – $5,725,907.53***
• Columbia County: $552,101.82 – $964,528.42
• Greene County: $666,825.42 – $1,164,951.91
• Rensselaer County: $1,068,187.17 – $1,866,135.66
• Saratoga County: $1,411,643.69 – $2,466,158.27
• Schenectady County: $1,023,351.66 – $1,787,807.49
• Warren County: $514,587.63 – $898,990.69
• Washington County: $403,409.72 – $704,761.55

North Country Total: $7,917,561.70 – $14,456,955.77**

• Clinton County: $698,974.92 – $1,221,117.47
• Essex County: $308,748.84 – $539,387.88
• Franklin County: $384,453.65 – $671,645.08
• Hamilton County: $25,444.84 – $44,452.44
• Jefferson County: $1,070,668.55 – $1,870,470.66
• Lewis County: $211,096.46 – $368,788.02
• Lawrence County: $1,037,527.98 – $1,812,573.69

Central New York Total: $20,057,166.42 – $36,623,089.16**

• Cayuga County: $759,507.23 – $1,326,868.14
• Cortland County: $454,798.22 – $794,537.89
• Madison County: $681,390.95 – $1,190,398.07
• Onondaga County: $7,333,981.14 – $12,971,834.84***
• Oswego County: $1,302,514.58 – $2,275,508.42

Finger Lakes Region: $28,886,077.70 – $52,744,110.35**

• Genesee County: $597,359.78 – $1,043,594.62
• Livingston County: $570,600.77 – $996,846.31
• Monroe County: $10,883,598.98 – $19,250,151.60***
• Ontario County: $1,101,147.15 – $1,923,717.13
• Orleans County: $347,049.64 – $606,299.83
• Seneca County: $325,185.88 – $568,103.59
• Wayne County: $835,637.20 – $1,459,868.10
• Wyoming County: $346,041.37 – $604,538.38
• Yates County: $208,393.99 – $364,066.77

Southern Tier Total: $14,522,096.97 – $26,516,410.21**

• Broome County: $2,345,856.68 – $4,098,239.44
• Chemung County: $1,035,575.69 – $1,809,163.01
• Chenango County: $434,152.12 – $758,468.91
• Delaware County: $461,798.79 – $806,767.96
• Schuyler County: $175,055.09 – $305,823.32
• Steuben County: $955,885.44 – $1,669,943.21
• Tioga County: $455,900.74 – $796,464.00
• Tompkins County: $989,886.25 – $1,729,343.04

Mohawk Valley Total: $9,527,142.26 – $17,395,945.81**

• Fulton County: $388,419.13 – $678,572.82
• Herkimer County: $553,377.60 – $966,757.23
• Montgomery County: $381,127.27 – $665,833.87
• Oneida County: $2,376,168.34 – $4,151,194.28
• Otsego County: $564,014.67 – $985,340.32
• Schoharie County: $233,494.90 – $407,918.34

Western New York Total: $40,955,315.42 – $74,781,758.10**

• Allegany County: $414,125.56 – $723,482.27
• Cattaraugus County: $744,612.13 – $1,300,846.23
• Chautauqua County: $1,439,743.06 – $2,515,248.20
• Erie County: $16,215,434.58 – $28,680,730.88***
• Niagara County: $2,872,246.71 – $5,017,849.00

* Does not include payments from Endo settlement.
** In addition to sum total of counties, a regional share is also being allocated here.
*** Not all funds going to the county. Also includes funds going directly to a major city within the county.

Separately, but related to her work on opioids, this past February, Attorney General James co-led a coalition of nearly every attorney general in the nation in delivering more than $573 million — more than $32 million of which was earmarked for New York state — toward opioid treatment and abatement in an agreement and consent judgment with McKinsey & Company.

In the Office of the New York Attorney General, this matter was led by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, Senior Advisor and Special Counsel M. Umair Khan, and former Counsel for Opioids and Impact Litigation David Nachman. The settlements were also brought about by the work led by Senior Enforcement Counsel John Oleske and Assistant Attorney General Monica Hanna, as well as Assistant Attorneys General Conor Duffy, Carol Hunt, Diane Johnston, Leo O’Toole, Jeremy Pfetsch, Noah Popp, Michael Reisman, Lois Saldana, and Louis Testa; Project Attorneys Wil Handley, Stephanie Torre, and Eve Woodin; Paralegal Ketty Dautruche; Legal Assistant David Payne; Director of Research and Analytics Jonathan Werberg; Data Scientist Gautam Sisodia; Data Analyst Anushua Choudhury; Information Technology Specialists Hewson Chen and Paige Podolny; and E-Discovery Document Review Specialist Kristin Petrella.