Navigation Florida appeals court rules state attorney general cannot usurp hospital districts’ opioid lawsuits
A Florida appeals court has blocked the state attorney general’s effort to unilaterally extinguish opioid damages claims filed by local hospital and school districts as part of the state’s legal settlement with the same opioid manufacturers and marketers.
The First District Court of Appeal sided with the local districts, including Lee Health and the Miami-Dade County School Board, in an Aug. 14 opinion. And on Sept. 19, the appeals court denied a motion by Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office to certify the key legal question in the case with the state Supreme Court.
Some Florida health districts and the Miami-Dade School District have been pursuing federal opioid claims in the multidistrict litigation (MDL) in the Northern District of Ohio. Moody’s office has been working on a statewide settlement with the same opioid defendants that would have stopped the local districts’ pursuit of damages claims against the companies.
