ISAC held an informational meeting on November 4, 2021, to inform Iowa counties about the pending national opioid settlement involving one manufacturer and three distributors. During that meeting, counties were presented with information about the settlement and the process required to participate in the settlement. As of December 3, there are 66 Iowa counties who have filed suit (litigating counties) in this litigation. There are 33 Iowa counties who did not file suit (non-litigating counties). All counties, whether litigating or non-litigating, who register and agree to the settlement are eligible to receive the funds from the settlement agreement. At the present time, all 66 litigating counties have registered and 27 of the 33 non-litigating counties have registered to participate in the settlement.
On December 2, 2021, an Opioid Settlement Meeting was held at 2:00 pm by Erin Dickinson (Crueger Dickinson), the attorney representing Iowa’s litigating counties. During the meeting, Erin explained the final settlement process and shared with both the litigating and non-litigating counties, the final settlement documents. The final settlement documents will need to be executed by all Iowa counties for Iowa to receive the maximum settlement amount from the national settlement agreement. Click here to view the meeting PowerPoint that outlines the steps you need to take to agree to the settlement.
The final piece in this process has been reaching agreement between the Attorney General of Iowa and the litigating counties on the distribution of settlement funds that come to Iowa. The State-Counties Allocation MOU was agreed to late Wednesday. So, we now have all settlement documents available for your review and action. They are available in the list below. There is also a link that can be used to download all of the documents in a zipped folder.
- Distributors Participation Agreement (EXECUTE AND SEND BACK)
- Janssen Participation Agreement (EXECUTE AND SEND BACK)
- Draft Board Resolution (MODIFY AS YOU SEE FIT, EXECUTE, AND SEND BACK)
- State-Counties Allocation MOU (EXECUTE AND SEND BACK)
- Settlement Talking Points
- The CMO that sets deadlines if the county DOESN’T settle its case
- Copies of the Settlement Agreements
Link to download all documents: https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/6tmuliuM3A
Why is it important for all Iowa counties to register and agree to the settlement? The national settlement agreement essentially requires that the state and all counties and cities above 10,000 population must agree to the settlement to achieve the maximum allocation for that state. There are participation benchmarks in the settlement and failing to reach those benchmarks reduces the settlement amount the state receives, which decreases the amount of money that will be available to allocate according to the State-Counties Allocation MOU.
Both the ISAC Board of Directors and the Executive Board of the Iowa State Association of County Supervisors have adopted resolutions encouraging Iowa counties to register and participate in the settlement.
Finally, the deadline for submitting the settlement documents is January 2, 2022. We are asking that counties, both litigating and non-litigating, submit their executed documents to Crueger Dickinson. Please submit to either of the following email addresses: maj@cruegerdickinson.com or kkb@cruegerdickinson.com. PLEASE EXECUTE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. Remember the deadline is January 2, 2022, to get this all done.
Questions for ISAC?
Bill Peterson, bpeterson@iowacounties.org
Kristi Harshbarger, kharshbarger@iowacounties.org