The city of Starkville will join an opioid litigation case after aldermen voted unanimously in favor of the action at Tuesday’s meeting.
The litigation would be one of hundreds of cases that cities, counties, states and other entities such as hospitals are bringing against opioid manufacturers and distributers across the country in a multi-district litigation suit. The cases are being consolidated in the federal court in the Northern District of Ohio.
Aldermen approved the litigation relatively easily, after City Attorney Chris Latimer explained the matter.
Latimer explained that the proposal with the law firm Smith, Bobinger and Smith, is based on contingency fees. He said that means that, if the city gets money from the case, it attorney fees would be paid from those winnings. If there’s not enough awarded from litigation to cover attorney fees, or if the city doesn’t receive any money, there’s no cost to the city.
Columbus attorney Corky Smith, speaking to the Dispatch late last week about the litigation, said it could target a number of opioid manufacturers across the country, such as Purdue Pharma. He said the litigation revolves around the claim that opioid manufacturers didn’t properly warn people about the dangerous natures of their products. The ensuing issues that have emerged in communities across the country have cost cities and counties money through increased policing and court costs and other ways, Smith said.
Latimer, answering a question from Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver, said the city will not expend any hours or manpower working to gather data on the case.
“That would be the law firm’s job,” he said. “This would allow them to come in and review the city’s data and review the city’s records but it wouldn’t take the (police) chief’s officers away from their daily activities.”
In all, Latimer said, there’s no guarantee that anything might come from the litigation. However, he said he felt it was worth a shot.
“I certainly can’t guarantee or estimate that any recovery will be coming,” Latimer said. “But this is a chance for the city to get into the pool and be available for any damages, should the litigation bear fruit.”
Opioids are a class of drug with the primary purpose of reducing pain. Legal opioids can be prescribed by medical providers and include drugs such as hydrocodone, oxycodone, codeine and fentanyl. Illegal opioids include drugs like heroin and variants of fentanyl and other synthetic substances.
The board also voted, during executive session, to authorize Mayor Lynn Spruill to negotiate for the potential purchase of 51 acres of land south of the Sportsplex. The land is broken into five parcels that, if acquired, would serve as room for an expansion of the Sportsplex.
Spruill said she will negotiate with land owners to see if they are willing to sell the land at its appraised value, as set by the city’s appraiser.
Tuesday’s vote is the continuation of efforts to acquire the land that began in mid-January.
Event sponsorship changes
In other business during the meeting, aldermen approved four events with the change that the city will not be listed as a sponsor. The events were the 2018 Cotton District Arts Festival, the Sarcoidosis Awareness Walk, the Ministerial Association’s annual community prayer walk and Touch-A-Truck.
Ward 2 Alderman Sandra Sistrunk introduced the changes, and said she did so to remain consistent with the city’s decision for a Starkville Pride parade request. For the parade, which was so hotly-contested that a federal lawsuit was brought against the city before aldermen reversed an Feb. 20 vote to deny it, one condition of the approval was that the city not be listed as a sponsor.
“It’s my intention tonight to remove that condition of approval for each of these events to be consistent with how we treated the previous event,” Sistrunk said. “I do think we are not far from a need to go back through and revisit our requirements. I think if a group wanted to acknowledge the city’s in-kind services, it would be appropriate for them to ask that recognition.”
Aldermen approved each event on a 4-2 vote, with Ward 6’s Roy A. Perkins and Ward 7’s Henry Vaughn opposing. Ward 3 Alderman David Little was absent from Tuesday’s meeting.
When the board reached the Touch-A-Truck vote, Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker expressed some frustration about removing the city as a sponsor from the event, which heavily features city vehicles at the Sportsplex.
“It’s primarily our vehicles that are there, so it seems like we kind of are the sponsor,” Walker said. “Just help me understand why we would not want to have that language in there.”
Latimer said he’d focus on the fact that the city wouldn’t be listed as a sponsor on fliers.
“We wouldn’t be listed on the promotional materials, but certainly our vehicles would say what they say as they are labeled,” he said.
The Dispatch could not reach Perkins or Vaugn for comments on their votes.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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