A Wanted Opioid-Addiction Challenge: How Should Louisiana Allocate Proceeds from Opioid Litigation?

AuthorAddison Hollis
PositionJ.D./D.C.L., 2021. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
Pages326-361
Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review
Volume 81
Number 1
Fall 2020
Article 13
12-11-2020
A Wanted Opioid-Addiction Challenge: How Should Louisiana A Wanted Opioid-Addiction Challenge: How Should Louisiana
Allocate Proceeds from Opioid Litigation? Allocate Proceeds from Opioid Litigation?
Addison Hollis
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev
Repository Citation Repository Citation
Addison Hollis,
A Wanted Opioid-Addiction Challenge: How Should Louisiana Allocate Proceeds from
Opioid Litigation?
, 81 La. L. Rev. (2020)
Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol81/iss1/13
This Comment is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews and Journals at LSU Law Digital
Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Louisiana Law Review by an authorized editor of LSU Law Digital
Commons. For more information, please contact kreed25@lsu.edu.
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A Wanted Opioid-Addiction Challenge: How Should
Louisiana Allocate Proceeds from Opioid Litigation?
Addison Hollis*
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction.................................................................................. 320
I. Putting a Price on Opioid Addiction ............................................ 325
A. The Opioid Crisis in the United States:
Americans in Pain and the Healthcare
Industry’s Response............................................................... 326
B. The Opioid Crisis in the United States:
Americans Looking for Someone to Pay............................... 328
II. State and Local Governments Hear the Call to Action ................ 329
A. Oklahoma v. Purdue Pharma L.P.......................................... 330
B. Federal Opioid MDL ............................................................. 332
III. Louisiana’s Need for Public Health Rehabilitation
and its History of Ignoring Local Concerns ................................. 335
A. Louisiana: An Ideal Model for Conflict
over Settlement Allocation .................................................... 336
B. Louisiana’s Delayed Response to the Growing
Opioid Crisis.......................................................................... 336
C. Fear of Repeating History: The Tobacco MSA ..................... 340
D. Fear of Repeating History: Louisiana’s
Experience with the Tobacco MSA....................................... 342
IV. Louisiana’s Key to a Just and Equitable Opioid Settlement
Allocation: Distinguish History and Plan for the Future..............345
A. Step 1: Distinguish Opioid Litigation from
Tobacco Litigation................................................................. 346
1. The Small Number of Defendants and
Their Financial Limitations............................................. 346
2. The Complication of Illicit Drugs ................................... 347
Copyright 2020, by ADDISON HOLLIS.
* J.D./D.C.L., 2021. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University.
I would like to thank my advisors, President Thomas Galligan, Jr. and Michael
Malinowski, for their support and mentorship. Also, I want to thank my family,
especially Sam Chastain, for their limitless love and encouragement.
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320 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 81
3. The Local Governments are the Plaintiffs
Not the States .................................................................. 348
B. Step 2: Proactively Implement MAT Programs:
Mitigate and Prevent.............................................................. 350
Conclusion.................................................................................... 353
INTRODUCTION
By its very nature, a virus spreads, infects, festers, and devastates at
speeds difficult to understand.1 COVID-19, a virus the world has come to
know, reached the United States without stopping before it spread to the
very place dear to so many, home to Jazz music, gumbo, and a good time
New Orleans, Louisiana.2 News stories of the virus infiltrated the lives of
Louisiana citizens.3 State and local governments rolled out mandates never
before exercised to reduce the spread of the virus.4 Schools closed.5
Businesses closed.6 Families drew close to one another.7 The world, the
state of Louisiana, and individuals alike reacted.8 Reaction, though it may
take many forms, is a natural human response to a crisis.9 When a
pandemic shatters the very threads of a communitythrough the effects it
has on their finances, their health, or their overall wellbeing
communities not only search for information but also strive for solutions.10
No one can deny that COVID-19 has impacted the lives of so many in the
1. See Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID -19), CDC, https://www.cdc.gov
/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html [https://perma.cc/LTK2-
3T4S] (last updated Sept. 1, 2020).
2. See Coronavirus (COVID -19), LA. DEPT OF HEALTH, http://ldh.la.gov/
Coronavirus/ [https://perma.cc/GQS2-W7HP] (last visited Nov. 2, 2020).
3. Id.
4. Id.
5. See Covid-19 News, LA. DEPT OF HEALTH, http://ldh.la.gov/index.cfm/
newsroom/category/227 [https://perma.cc/Y99U-DDRS] (last visited Nov. 2, 2020).
6. Id.
7. See generally Mark Ballard & Sam Karlin, Louisiana issues statewide
stay-at-home order to combat coronavirus spread; see details here, ADVOCATE
(Mar. 22, 2020, 1:47 PM), https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/
coronavirus/article_922869e8-6c6d-11ea-aeee-6b6fd5e8f4bd.html [https://perma
.cc/66ER-AQ83].
8. Covid-19 News, supra note 5; Ballard & Karlin, supra note 7.
9. Covid-19 News, supra note 5; Ballard & Karlin, supra note 7.
10. Covid-19 News, supra note 5; Ballard & Karlin, supra note 7.

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