In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation

In re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation

Your rights may be affected by the proposed Settlement in a class action lawsuit. The lawsuit claims Defendants played a central role in the opioid crisis. They claim that to sell as many prescription opioids as possible, manufacturers misrepresented the risks and safety of long-term prescription opioid use and distributors did not properly monitor or report suspicious orders.

Plaintiffs claim that Defendants’ conduct caused substantial, direct, and proximate harm to Third-Party Payor Plaintiffs. Because of the opioid crisis, TPPs claim they have wrongfully had to pay large costs for opioid prescriptions and opioid use disorder treatment.

Defendants deny these claims and that they did anything wrong. The litigation is proceeding, and, at this point, the Court has not decided who is right.

On September 3, 2024, the Court granted preliminary approval to the settlement and will decide at the Fairness Hearing whether to certify for settlement the TPP class.

Who is Included?

All entities that paid and/or were reimbursed for (i) opioid prescription drugs manufactured, marketed, sold, distributed, or dispensed by any of the Defendants and/or Opioid Supply Chain Members for purposes other than resale, and/or (ii) paid or incurred costs for treatment related to the misuse, addiction, and/or overdose of opioid drugs, on behalf of individual beneficiaries, insureds, and/or members, during the time period from January 1, 1996 to the date of entry of the Preliminary Approval Order.

For clarity, the Class includes but is not limited to: (a) private contractors of Federal Health Employee Benefits plans, (b) plans for self-insured local governmental entities that have not settled claims in MDL No. 2804, (c) managed Medicaid plans, (d) plans operating under Medicare Part C and/or D, and (e) Taft-Hartley plans.

The following are excluded from the Class:

(a) all federal governmental entities and all state and local governmental entities whose claims have been released by a prior settlement with the Settling Distributors, (b) PBMs, (c) consumers, (d) fully insured plan sponsors, and (e) Excluded Insurers, including the related entities as listed in the definition of Excluded Insurers. For the avoidance of doubt, (i) entities that are administered or operated, but not owned, by an Excluded Insurer and (ii) entities that own an interest, even a controlling interest, in a PBM, are not excluded from the Class, unless they are an Excluded Insurer or are otherwise excluded; and (f) the Settling Distributors and their subsidiaries, affiliates, and controlled persons; officers, directors, agents, servants, or employees of any Settling Distributor, and the immediate family members of any such persons; and persons and entities named as Defendants in any of the Actions coordinated under or parallel to MDL No. 2804.

*As explained more fully in the Long Form Notice, Excluded Insurers include parents and subsidiaries of the following corporate families: Aetna, Anthem, Cigna, Humana, and UnitedHealth.

For additional details, please read the Long Form Notice.