Newton County authorizes judge to sign opioid MDL settlement participation forms

Newton County Commissioners Court on Aug. 26 authorized the county judge to execute participation and release forms for settlement offers in the Texas opioid multidistrict litigation (MDL).

A county representative told the court that attorneys representing Newton County have reached agreements with multiple defendants, including Purdue and several smaller companies. In the meeting record the county’s share was described in the transcript as “$41,2856” for Purdue and “$6,383.84” for a group of smaller defendants; the representative said those payments would be made into the county’s trust account by January and that additional regional settlement funds would be available for competitive grant applications supporting interdiction, counseling and treatment programs. The transcript figure for the larger payment is unclear in its punctuation and was recorded as spoken in the meeting.

The court’s action was limited to authorizing the county judge to sign the settlement forms; no further allocation decisions were made at the hearing. A commissioner moved to authorize the judge to execute the documents, the motion was seconded and carried by voice vote.

The county representative said a regional fund established by the settlements will hold roughly $20 million for the region and that counties in the region may apply for grants for opioid-related law enforcement and treatment programs. The court did not make decisions at the meeting about how Newton County would allocate any settlement receipts once received.

Next steps: the county judge will sign the participation and release paperwork so Newton County can accept the negotiated payments and access regional grant opportunities; staff will bring any recommended spending or grant applications back to the court for approval.