Latest Settlement Brings Baltimore's Total Recovery in Opioid Settlements to $322.5 Million

BALTIMORE, MD (Monday, September 9, 2024) - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott and the City of Baltimore announced they have reached an $80 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals to resolve the City's claims against Teva and its associated companies for their role in fueling Baltimore's devastating opioid epidemic. Teva will make an initial payment of $35 million by year's end and pay the remainder by July 1, 2025.

The City's settlement with Teva is the fourth it has announced in connection with its ongoing litigation against the opioid distributors and manufacturers that fueled the worst opioid epidemic in the nation. It follows settlements with Allergan and CVS for $45 million each, as well as a $152.5 million settlement with Cardinal Health. This brings the City's recoveries from opioid defendants to $322.5 million. The case against the remaining defendants, who made up over half the market share of the opioids that flooded Baltimore, will proceed to trial on September 16, one week from today.

As with the previous settlements, this settlement confirms the City's decision to opt out of the national settlement with Teva has paid off. Under the terms of that settlement, the City would only have received $11 million paid over 13 years from Teva. Instead, in this settlement, the City will receive more than 7 times that amount in less than a year. In total, the City has now secured more than three times the total amount it would have received from all available global settlements with opioid defendants.

Per the agreement, the City will allocate $5 million for education and outreach efforts about the 988 system, $3 million to Penn North Recovery Center, and $2 million to BMore Power. The remainder of the funds will go through the process detailed in Mayor Scott's executive order of August 29, 2024, which outlined a comprehensive framework for the administration of opioid restitution funds, in order to fight the ongoing opioid epidemic in Baltimore at all levels.

"This settlement marks another major victory for the City of Baltimore and further validates our decision to carry on in the fight to hold these companies accountable," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "Nothing can undo the harm that they caused or bring back the lives lost, but we are determined to implement these resources in a way that helps move our City's fight against this epidemic forward. It is my hope that these funds will help save lives and ensure that fewer families and communities have to endure the pain of losing loved ones to opioid overdose."

"The extraordinary amount of work put into this case by our outside counsel and our internal Law Department team has paid off for the City," said City Solicitor Ebony Thompson. "We are very thankful that Susman Godfrey's willingness to assume the financial risk in this case allowed us to turn down the grossly inadequate national settlements and pursue the resources our City needs to address this epidemic."

"We are incredibly proud of our partnership with the City of Baltimore, and we are committed to doing everything we can to bring Baltimore justice in this case," said Susman Godfrey Partner Bill Carmody, who is leading the outside legal team on this matter.

He is joined by Susman Godfrey attorneys Seth Ard, Sy Polky, Michael Kelso, Rocco Magni, Adam Carlis, Cory Buland, Geng Chen, Krisina Zuñiga, Max Straus, Betsy Aronson, Katherine Drews, Jeff Melsheimer, and Tom Boardman. Sara Gross and Thomas Webb of the Baltimore City Department of Law also represent the City in this case.

The case is Mayor & City Council of Baltimore v. Purdue Pharma L.P., et al., 24-C-18-000515 in the Circuit Court of Maryland for Baltimore City.