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Court approves $50,000 pilot from opioid settlement funds to reduce barriers to Casey's Law filings
Summary
The Boyle County Fiscal Court authorized exploring and allocating up to $50,000 from opioid-settlement reserves to help families cover filing fees, evaluations and some attorney costs for petitions under Casey's Law, with a hope that the city of Danville would match $25,000. The court asked staff to design means testing and fee caps for a pilot program and report back.
Boyle County judges and officials described obstacles families face when bringing petitions under Casey's Law, including filing fees, evaluator costs and attorneys' fees that can reach into the low thousands and deter filings. In response, a magistrate proposed a one-time $50,000 pilot, ideally matched with $25,000 from the City of Danville, to subsidize early costs and remove financial barriers to filing.
The judge and county attorney said the county would develop guardrails such as a means test and caps on recoverable attorney fees to prevent fee inflation and to stretch funds to those most in need. "There may also be an opportunity here to put some procedures into place, to put a cap maybe on some of these attorneys fees," the judge said during the discussion. A motion to explore and allocate up to $50,000 from opioid-settlement reserves for the pilot was made, seconded and carried by the court.
