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Douglas County authorizes participation in Purdue Pharma/Sackler settlement
Summary
The Douglas County Board of Commissioners approved, as part of its consent agenda, authority to participate in the Purdue Pharma and Sackler-family settlement within a larger multi‑district litigation; county attorney said outside counsel and additional steps remain.
The Douglas County Board of Commissioners on Sept. 9 authorized county staff to move forward with participation in the Purdue Pharma LP and Sackler‑family settlement as part of a multi‑district litigation over opioid distribution, approving the item on the consent agenda by a 7–0 vote.
County Attorney Teresa told commissioners the action gives staff authority to proceed with that portion of the litigation. “We are participating in a multi district litigation when revolving around the opioid distribution throughout the country. We have outside counsel for that. As part of that litigation, we have a settlement, there's a settlement opportunity with the Purdue Pharma and the Sackler settlement agreement, and so we're asking for authority to move forward with that,” Teresa said.
The authorization was filed as consent agenda item I and passed when the board approved the entire consent package, which commissioners moved and approved without separate debate. Commissioner Kavanaugh asked for clarification on which stage the county’s participation represented; Teresa described the matter as one component of ongoing litigation and said additional “moving parts” would be brought back as needed.
Commissioner Fahey also commented on the broader policy context in public remarks during the meeting, characterizing the manufacturers’ conduct in strong terms: “They are admitting that they sold drugs, opioid drugs that killed people and made people very sick. But they are not being charged with any crimes,” and later, “essentially, they're drug dealers, and they're buying their way away from criminal liability,” he said.
The county attorney’s office said Douglas County is represented by outside counsel in the multi‑district litigation and that the board’s vote today authorized participation in the specific Purdue Pharma/Sackler settlement process; details about specific settlement amounts, allocation formulas, or timing were not provided in the meeting and were described as “other moving parts” that will be reported back to the board as needed.
The consent agenda, which included this authorization among several other routine items, passed 7–0 earlier in the meeting.
