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

• Author: Addison Hollis
• Position: J.D./D.C.L., 2021. Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana State University
• Pages: 326-361

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 community—through 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. DEP’T 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. DEP’T 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.