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Waupaca County approves opioid settlement participation and establishes abatement and attorney-fee accounts
Summary
The county board adopted Resolution No. 38 authorizing Waupaca County to enter the Distributors and Janssen settlement agreements in the national opioid litigation, approve allocation and AG MOUs, and create an Opioid Abatement Account and Attorney Fees Account to hold settlement proceeds and attorney fees.
On Dec. 21, 2021, the Waupaca County Board adopted Resolution No. 38 authorizing the county to participate in the Distributors and Janssen Settlement Agreements related to national opioid litigation and to approve related allocation agreements. Supervisor Gerald M. Murphy moved the resolution and Supervisor Pete Bosquez seconded; the motion carried 26-0.
The resolution instructs the county to (1) execute the distributors and Janssen settlement documents, (2) finalize and sign an Allocation MOU among Wisconsin participating subdivisions, (3) finalize and sign a State–Local Government MOU with the Wisconsin Attorney General, and (4) execute an escrow agreement directing settlement proceeds into segregated accounts. The board established an "Opioid Abatement Account" for funds dedicated to approved abatement uses and an "Attorney Fees Account" as an escrowed backstop to cover up to a stated percentage of attorney fees; the resolution notes that fees to the county's law firms may be up to 25% of proceeds (subject to deductions from a national fee fund) and describes an authority/escrow structure for funding those fees.
The resolution cites 2021 Wisconsin Act 57 and Wis. Stat. §165.12 and explains statutory requirements, including the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance approval for statewide settlement terms. The meeting record includes no specific dollar amounts allocated to Waupaca County in the Allocation MOU in the minutes provided; the county chair was authorized to sign MOUs in substantially similar form to those presented to the board.
