by Ron Gregory
ronjgregory@gmail.com
The return of a year-old lawsuit against McKesson Corp., America’s largest wholesale drug distributor to Boone Circuit Court may well indicate faster action on the matter.
Boone Circuit Judge Will Thompson, with his reputation for fairness and an ability to move cases along, will surely prod this one more effectively than it as getting done in Federal court. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s staff argued before U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver that the case belonged where it originated — in Boone Circuit Court. McKesson did not want it in Thompson’s bailiwick, arguing that was the wrong venue. Copenhaver disagreed and remanded it to Boone.
The suit is a little over a year old, having been filed in January 2016.
Morrisey’s office looked at Copenhaver’s ruling as a victory. “It supports our aggressive fight against the opioid epidmic,” said AG spokesman Curtis Johnson.
Thompson is familiar with drug lawsuits. He presided over more than a dozen against other drug distributors which resulted in Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen agreeing to pay a combined $36 million to settle cases filed by the state.
That settlement has spurred numerous lawyers and firms in the state to approach cities and counties, urging them to now sue the drug manufacturers. The primary argument for the government suits is that an overabundance of opioid pain killers, supplied by the drug manufacturers, resulted in what has been known as the “drug epidemic” in Southern West Virginia. While Morrisey argued to bring McKesson back to Boone County court, numerous private law firms have been pitching their services to counties and cities to sue drug manufacturers.
Some have argued that companies like Cardinal cannot be sued by cities and counties, since those are units of state government. Corporate lawyers say the Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen settlement represents a settlement with all citizens of West Virginia and bringing suits from counties and cities would represent a sort of “double jeopardy” tor the companies.
As I opined last time, I am not an attorney qualified to answer complex legal questions. It does seem to me, though, that Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen should be immune from further civil suits in West Virginia. Since the firms making pitches to local government are willing to take the cases on a contingency fee basis, I suppose there is nothing to be lost for taxpayers if their county and city governments proceed.
I would simply hate to see so many lawsuits and so many settlements end up with the cost of a pain killer becoming impractical for a person who really needs it. One doctor told me the price of a Lortab would go from “around a dollar to $50 if these people drain the companies.”
The other fallacy, I think, is attorneys assuring towns and counties that they “would not let” these lawsuits cost local doctors and pharmacies. The question would be, “how can they stop it?” If Town A sues Company B and Company B moves to bring in Dr. John Doe and the Doe Sisters’ Pharmacy who prescribed and dispensed their pills, how will a town attorney stop them? And, even if the local judge tosses the pharmacies and docs as defendants, it will take lawyers and courtroom hours by attorneys working for the physicians and drug stores to stop it. That, if nothing else, raises the drug prices.
Anyway, I’m confident Judge Thompson will handle the case(s) correctly and fairness will be the rule of the day in his court.
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Like him or hate him, it is still difficult for me to figure how former coal baron Don Blankenship deserves to be in a federal penitentiary with a bunch of convicted felons. Everyone else in the California hotel is a felon. Despite a grueling trial with all kinds of allegations all over the courtroom, Blankenship was convicted of one MISDEMEANOR. He was sentenced to a year in jail.
On the face, it certainly does not appear that the punishment suits the crime. If one buys the theory that the American judicial system sometimes punishes folks for things it believes someone has done but has not convicted them of, I suppose it might make some sense. There’s no way, however, that you or I could teach a civics class and explain to the class how a person charged with one misdemeanor ends up in the slammer for a year with felons.
Blankenship pointed out this out in his recently-distributed book, where he calls himself a “political prisoner.”
Now, the coal man’s attorneys are contemplating whether to appeal a Fourth Circuit ruling that upheld the sentencing. The next — and final — step would be to get an audience before the U.S. Supreme Court. While likelihood of that happening is remote at best, it is the only way out for Blankenship. Otherwise, he sits in his cell three more months. He undoubtedly would like the vindication from some court that he should never have been in prison to start with.
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As noted, if the court system somehow believes Blankenship is, in fact, a murderer, that might explain their toughness. On the other hand, zealous U.S. prosecutors were not able to present a case for even one murder charge.
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In keeping with my history of alleging fraud on behalf of politicians who run under one party label and switch to another, the esteemed “in-the-pocket” Delegate Rupie Phillips has reportedly changed from Democrat to Independent. As with Daniel Hall, who ran for the State Senate as a Democrat and quickly switched to Republican, I call that committing fraud on the voters.
Those who elected Phillips believed him when he said he was a Democrat. He never has been. As I have pointed out many times, Phillips was the “surest” vote Republicans had in the House. He NEVER voted like a Democrat.
State Democrat Chairman Belinda Biafore had it right when she said, “Delegate Phillips said he didn’t want to ‘play politics’, yet this is nothing but political posturing for his own aspirations and media attention. He said so himself. He said his district is full of ‘lifelong Democrats,’ a lot of them conservative Democrats that need a voice in Charleston, yet he chose to abandon them for media attention. Demeaning the people of our party and calling them ungodly was completely uncalled for and unnecessary. It is not his place nor anyone else’s place to speak on behalf of anyone else’s religious beliefs.”
Biafore has summed Phillips up very well. Unable to stand being in a minority party, he had to make some kind of change so he could claim he is NOT a Democrat. Yet, he lied to the voters of the 24th District as recently as November by assuring them that he was a Dem. Lying doesn’t bother Phillips much; check the records.
So, now there is another non-Democrat in wolf’s clothing sitting in the House chamber. Maybe, like Hall, he’ll get an job from one of the outfits he carries water for and have to leave us before the next election. If not, let’s home two true Democrat candidates and two actual Republicans emerge to take that seat from the self-promoting Phillips. Worried about the people of the 24th District? Rupie says, “no. I’m just concerned about myself.”
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A week into his Presidential term and Donald Trump has already delivered on many of his promises. As I noted continuously, I don’t agree with many of Trump’s stated positions but I knew his election would send a change of direction through Washington. All those liberals who happily predicted he would abandon his stated goals once in the White House have been proven wrong. I still doubt that he is the bible-thumper many bible-thumpers think he is, but I suppose we will see.
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Your comments, story ideas, unverified gossip and rare changes of political party affiliation as a matter of principle are always appreciated. Use my listed email or call my cell, 304-533-5185.