Schuyler County will hold a public hearing on
March 12 to review a proposed local law declaring the opioid epidemic and its
effects on the County a public nuisance.
According to Schuyler County Attorney Steven
Getman, the draft local law is the next step in the County’s lawsuit against
the manufacturers and distributors of opioid pain killers.
“The purpose and intent of this legislation
is to allow the County to recover costs related to healthcare, family and
social services, criminal justice, addiction and rehabilitation, and many other
areas have significantly increased,” Getman explained. “Many of these costs are paid by the
County.”
Upon passage, the local law would be followed
by the filing of a lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributers of
prescription opiates for damages to the County arising out of the fraudulent
and negligent marketing and distribution of opiates in and to the County
The County Legislature voted in August to
retain the firm of Napoli Shkolnik, PLLC to file that lawsuit on their
behalf. Napoli Shkolnik will work with Getman, as special counsel.
“Over the past few years, despite its small
population, Schuyler County has seen an uptick in opioid and heroin use and
overdose,” Getman said. “To date, County officials have expended
significant resources to help its residents battle opioid addiction and prevent
further deaths. The lawsuit will seek to reimburse the County for its expenses
related to the opioid crisis as well as provide the County with financial
assistance to continue this battle.”
According to County Administrator Tim
O’Hearn, the lawsuit will be filed at no risk to the County, as Napoli Shkolnik
will work on contingency basis that will cover all costs associated with the
lawsuit.
“By voting to go forward with local law, the
County Legislature hopes to lessen the burden to taxpayers and seeks to hold
manufacturers and distributors responsible for their role in the opioid
epidemic,” O’Hearn said.
“These drug companies have poisoned our
communities and polluted our children” says Paul Napoli, of counsel for Napoli
Shkolnik. Paul Napoli leads the charge with Hunter Shkolnik against drug
companies nationwide.
“The painkiller overdose epidemic is a
classic case of putting profits before people,” he said. “Many opioid
manufacturers were so intent on selling as much product as possible that they
either turned a blind eye towards, or intentionally buried, reports that these
drugs were highly addictive and potentially deadly.”
Napoli added that “our door is open” to other
New York municipalities who are also fed up with the overdose epidemic, and
that Napoli Law has the firepower to go toe-to-toe with the big pharma lawyers.
Napoli has dedicated much of his career to
mass tort litigation. He has fought on behalf of 9/11 injury victims at both
the statehouse and the courthouse, and he and his team also took on the big
energy companies which contaminated much of Long Island’s drinking water supply
with dangerously high levels of methyl tertiary butyl ether.
The Public Hearing on the proposed local law
will be held in the Legislative Chambers of the Schuyler County Courthouse, 105
Ninth Street, Watkins Glen, New York on Monday, March 12, 2018 at 6:30 pm. The public is invited and encouraged to attend
and voice their concerns regarding the opioid epidemic and the costs to
Schuyler County and its communities.
