Legal fight over opioid money in Florida heads to state Supreme Court

After losing in appeals court, Attorney General Ashley Moody headed to the Florida Supreme Court for a potentially risky fight over whether hospital districts and school boards can pursue opioid epidemic lawsuits after reaching settlements with the pharmaceutical industry.

On Friday, lawyers in Moody’s office filed a series of briefs that are the first step in asking the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

In August, a 1st District Court of Appeals panel rejected Moody’s arguments that it had the authority to enter into agreements with the industry that would effectively trump separate lawsuits filed by local government agencies. The appeals court later rejected a request to the Supreme Court to take a step known as certifying a “question of great public importance.”

The notices filed Friday, as is common, do not include details of arguments Moody’s office will make in the Supreme Court.

The dispute stems at least in part from seven settlements that Moody’s office reached with various companies over costs related to the opioid epidemic. Each of the settlements involved a “release” of claims filed by local governments. Some settlements stemmed from multistate lawsuits (known as global settlements), while others came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the attorney general’s office in Pasco County.

In 2022, Moody filed suit against hospital districts and school boards in Leon County circuit court to try to block his claims against the industry. Moody’s settlements will provide money for opioid treatment, prevention and recovery services, and the money will go to communities across the state, the lawsuit said.

Leon County District Judge John Cooper agreed with Moody last year, saying the Legislature “has given the attorney general authority specifically to enforce consumer protection laws” and that Moody has the authority to enter into agreements that prevent separate claims.

But a three-judge panel of the Tallahassee-based appeals court reversed Cooper’s decision on Aug. 14 and ruled in favor of the Sarasota County Public Hospital District, Lee Memorial Health System, North Broward Hospital District, South Broward Hospital District, Halifax Hospital Medical Center, Miami- Dade County School Board and Putnam County School Board.

Local institutions are trying to recover from drug distributors, manufacturers or pharmacies the costs related to the treatment of patients affected by the epidemic or the education of children.

“The attorney general does not have the authority to unilaterally deny, for example, the actual and individual damages suffered by two school boards for increased damages and expenses for compliance with federal law addressing the special educational needs of students with disabilities – actions allegedly impaired by students or their parents,” the appeals court decision said. It was stated that opioid (industry) defendants who caused addiction to prescription opioids will be prosecuted. “And this is just one example. Private hospital districts also assert individual and actual damages separate from those of the general public for damages allegedly caused by opioid defendants that resulted in these hospitals having to provide specialized medical care to opioid-addicted and impaired patients. “It is not within the attorney general’s authority to make such decisions.”

In a document filed with the appeals court in late August, Moody’s office said the state would lose at least $87 million in what were described as “stimulus” payments if the panel’s decision stood. A briefing filed last year said the two deals included base payments and incentive payments. Incentive payments depend on local governments’ participation in settlements.

In the August document, Moody’s office also claimed: “Much more funding is involved: For every dollar a (local government) subdivision collects against opioid defendants, an equal amount is deducted from the state’s collections.” “Given that many of the seven appellants (local agencies) have already filed lawsuits, the state is expected to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in opioid assistance.”