Sheriff Eddie Soileau sues drug companies over opioid epidemic

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On December 15, 2017, a lawsuit naming Evangeline Parish Sheriff Eddie Soileau as the plaintiff was filed against several pharmaceutical companies for false advertising as it relates to opioids.
In the suit, filed by David C. Laborde with Laborde Earles Law Firm, LLC, it alleges that “in order to expand the market for opioids and realize blockbuster profits, defendants sought to create a false perception of the safety and efficacy of opioids in the minds of medical professionals and members of the public that would encourage the use of opioids for longer periods of time and to treat a wider range of problems.”
According to the suit, the “defendants successfully created that false perception through a coordinated, sophisticated and highly deceptive marketing campaign that began in the late 1990s, became more aggressive in or about 2006, and continues to the present.”
What the suit calls the pharmaceutical’s “aggressive marketing,” the sheriff and his attorney feel have contributed to the rise in opioid use, addiction and overdose.
In the lawsuit it states that “opioid addiction and overdose have reached epidemic levels over the past decade,” and since March of 2016 has been recognized by the FDA as a “public health crisis.”
In the sheriff’s suit, it alleges that due to the defendants’ wrongful conduct, “plaintiff has been required to spend significant sums that would not have other wise been spent in its efforts to combat the public nuisance created by defendants’ deceptive marketing campaign.”
The suit goes on to state that the “plaintiff has incurred and continues to incur costs related to opioid addiction and abuse, including, but not limited to health care costs, injured employee medical benefits, criminal justice and victimization costs, and lost productivity costs.”
Sheriff Soileau has now become one of several Louisiana Sheriffs to file a lawsuit against the following pharmaceutical companies and doctors: Purdue Pharma L.P.; Purdue Pharma, Inc.; The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.; Cephalon, Inc.; Johnson & Johnson; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Janssen Pharmaceutica, Inc.; Endo Health Solutions Inc.; Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Dr. Randall Brewer; Dr. Perry Fine; Dr. Scott Fishman and Dr. Lynn Webster .
Other sheriffs to file lawsuits are from Rapides, Avoyelles, Lafayette, Jefferson Davis, Washington, Calcasieu, Ouachita, Sabine and Vernon Parishes.
According to the lawsuits, state data show that opioid-related deaths in Louisiana have nearly doubled from 155 in 2012 to 305 in 2016.
The lawsuit also sheds light on the fact that “Louisiana is one of eight states that has more opioid prescriptions than it has residents.”
As it relates to Evangeline Parish, the lawsuit states that “in 2015, according to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control), Evangeline Parish had one of the highest concentrations of opioid prescriptions per person in the state and was well over the national average.”
According to the lawsuit, the “prescription rate in Evangeline Parish was over 959 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per person nationally.”
The addiction to these controlled substances, according to the lawsuit, are felt to lead to the “commission of criminal acts to obtain opioids.”
The sheriff, according to the lawsuit, believes that “a significant number of the inmates or detainees under plaintiff’s control and supervision are opioid abusers, resulting in increased medical costs borne by plaintiff directly attributable to defendants’ fraudulent marketing and subsequent proliferation of opioid pain medication.”
In this matter, the sheriff, according to the lawsuit, “seeks a judgment requiring all defendants to pay restitution, damages, including multipliers of damages, disgorgement, civil penalties, attorney’s fees, costs and expenses, injunctive relief, and any other relief to which plaintiff may be entitled.”