Sedgwick County counsel recommends option to opt in to settlements with 'six remnant' opioid defendants; amounts unknown

Sedgwick County counsel told commissioners on April 3 that the county is being offered the opportunity to opt in to settlement discussions with six remaining defendants in opioid litigation and that the commission must decide whether to allow counsel to participate in those discussions.

Adrian Clark, assistant county counselor, said the request is an initial step to "opt in" to settlement talks and that the county does not yet know how many entities will participate or what the final settlement offers will be. "This is the first step to allow us to opt in to even doing settlement discussions," Clark said, explaining that after participation is determined the county would learn any dollar amount and then decide later whether to accept a specific settlement and its distribution algorithm.

Staff told the commission they currently hold about $3.266 million in the opioid fund and that settlement proceeds, if accepted in the future, would be subject to the same spending restrictions as other opioid-settlement dollars (abatement and related approved purposes). Staff also described a procurement process: a consultant RFP to manage distribution of funds is near completion and a second RFP for service providers (treatment, prevention, recovery) is being finalized with city partners.

What happens next: staff recommended commissioners consider a resolution on the upcoming agenda to authorize counsel to proceed with opt-in discussions; any decision to accept settlement funds and allocate them would be a separate future action after offers and participation levels are known.

Notes: staff emphasized that opt-in is procedural and does not commit the county to accept settlement amounts; the county’s current opioid fund balance was provided during the update.