Illinois Cities Take Opioid Lawsuit to State Court

Eleven Illinois cities are filing a public nuisance lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, distributors and prescribers in state court, adding to the growing litigation amidst America’s opioid crisis.

The cities, all but one of them suburbs of Chicago, claim that drug companies and distributors—most of whom have already been named in federal and state lawsuits—as well as a defunct suburban pain clinic and its doctors have “caused widespread harm and injuries to Plaintiff’s communities.”

Between 2013 and 2016, prescription opioid overdose deaths quadrupled in Illinois, according to state public health data, and emergency room trips for overdoses leapt by 66 percent between 2015 and 2016, among the highest in the country, federal data show.