Brampton might join class-action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers accused of putting millions at risk

Manufacturers of addictive opioids are facing a reckoning. 

In the United States, there is a growing precedent of court cases in states across the country seeking to hold manufacturers and distributors of the highly addictive painkillers financially accountable for their role in the growing opioid crisis, which has left thousands dead and destroyed the lives of countless others. 

According to data from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 70,000 Americans died of drug overdoses in 2017. Of those, nearly 68 percent involved a prescription or illicit opioid. 

In Canada, between January 2016 and September 2018, more than 10,000 people died from opioid-related overdoses. 

The crisis has hit close to home. Peel Region has been dealing with a growing number of opioid overdose deaths and emergency room visits related to the drugs. Public Health Ontario reports that 564 people died due to opioids in Brampton and Mississauga between 2005 and 2018.

While numbers continue to rise, there have been recent settlements in the U.S. in which large sums were awarded to state governments from opioid companies — mostly Purdue Pharma Inc., the creator of OxyContin — to alleviate the financial burden of dealing with the crisis. Most recently, an Oklahoma court awarded the state $572 million in damages against Johnson & Johnson for that company’s role in the inappropriate marketing of opioids. The crux of the many lawsuits in process is the claim that their marketers aggressively pushed the pills and misled the public about how addictive the drugs actually were.

Purdue Pharma has filed for bankruptcy and reportedly proposed a multibillion-dollar plan to settle thousands of suits from local and state governments.  

The City of Brampton is now considering joining the fight to get Canada’s fair share, alongside British Columbia, which launched its own lawsuit against more than 40 opioid makers in June 2018.

“I think Brampton really should do its part,” said Councillor Charmaine Williams, who brought forward the request to have staff look into the possibility of joining B.C.’s class-action suit. “These drug companies need to be held accountable; they made billions of dollars off the misery of others.”

Fellow councillors supported Williams’ motion, well aware of the toll the crisis is taking on Brampton and the region. The regional government is already developing a detailed plan to deal with the crisis locally. 

Councillor Charmaine Williams

“We know that the opioid epidemic is worldwide and a light has been shined on this problem,” said Councillor Michael Palleschi. 

Councillor Martin Medeiros supported the motion but struggled with the idea of having city staff work on determining the merits of joining the suit when public health is a regional responsibility. 

“I think we spend too much time on issues that don’t relate directly to our mandate,” he said. 

Currently, both the city and the region are locked in a waiting game as the province determines what it will do. The governing PCs introduced legislation in May to support Ontario joining B.C.’s lawsuit, which is a somewhat ceremonial move as the lawsuit is already a class-action that automatically includes all other provinces and territories. 

However, following reports earlier this month that Purdue and the Sacklers — the family behind the pharmaceutical giant — had reached a tentative agreement on countless lawsuits, they were waiting to see whether this agreement would extend to Canada. 

Councillor Martin Medeiros

“Ontario has observed a recently reported 'tentative agreement' that would propose to resolve the claims against Purdue entities and Sackler family members, and a statement by Purdue Pharma's head of corporate affairs and communications that states 'the Sacklers have offered $3 billion in cash as part of the global resolution,’” reads a statement from Attorney General Doug Downey. “While Ontario is encouraged by a stated desire to resolve global claims, the opioid crisis is unfortunately not limited to the U.S., and continues to have a devastating impact in Canada, with a correspondingly extraordinary toll on our health care system to the detriment of Canadian taxpayers.”

Downey added that any proposed agreement for “global resolution” needs to include Canada 

“However, to date there has been no effort on the part of Purdue entities and the Sacklers to involve Canadian jurisdictions in the discussions that have led to the rumoured settlement in the U.S.,” he stated. “The opioid crisis has cost the people of Ontario enormously, both in terms of lives lost and its impact on health care's front lines. We are taking action to hold manufacturers and wholesalers accountable for their roles in it.”

“Ontario remains ready and willing to participate in the reported effort to achieve global resolution of the claims against Purdue entities and the Sacklers. If, however, Ontario is not included in this process, we are determined to continue to pursue our claims to the fullest extent permitted by law,” Downey added.

Attorney General Doug Downey

Medeiros pointed out that any financial windfall from such a lawsuit would not go to Brampton, but to the Region of Peel, which handles public health and social services — while admitting that, come November, “I could have pie in my face.”

That’s because if the province decides to tear apart regional governance and allow Mississauga to become an independent city, effectively dissolving the Region of Peel, those health and social programs could then fall to the City of Brampton. 

Mayor Patrick Brown said he supports the “symbolic gesture,” but also cautioned that staff should first look into whether the B.C. government wants the city involved. The more parties involved, the more it might draw out the already lengthy legal process and delay any eventual settlement for governments and the victims of the crisis. 

“I know Councillor Williams would never want to do that, and nobody here would ever want to do that,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to do anything that would delay justice for the victims of this travesty.”

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