Carbon County to receive opioid settlement

While Wyoming and the rest of the country are currently dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the opioid epidemic has raged on in the background. 

In April 2018, the Board of Carbon County Commissioners (BOCCC) engaged Jason Ochs to represent the county in litigation against the makers of opiates. At the December 7 meeting of the BOCCC, Carbon County Attorney Ashley Mayfield-Davis provided the commissioners with an update.

“I don’t know if the public has thought about this or talked about this lately but the commissioners signed on with an attorney to handle opioid litigation because there’s lots of ongoing litigation around the country. That attorney, Mr. Ochs, is out of another part of the state of Wyoming and has joined forces with some other attorneys around the country,” said Mayfield-Davis. “They’ve been working with the Attorney General’s Office for the State of Wyoming because there is a proposed opioid settlement agreement. It’s an MOU (Memorandum of Understanding), so it would include signatures from all the local governments which would be other counties around the state of Wyoming as well as the AG’s office. They have been negotiating to determine what that split percentage would look like for all of the local governments.”

According to the county attorney, the initial proposal surrounding the opioid settlement was that the State of Wyoming would get 50 percent of the payout with the remaining 50 percent being split amongst local government entities. The final agreement, however, saw the State of Wyoming agree to taking only 35 percent of the payout with the remaining 65 percent being split amongst local government entities.

“The purpose of the funding is to help in our communities where we have people that have issues with either over-prescription of medications and or they may need treatment due to the opioids,” said Mayfield-Davis.

According to the county attorney, Carbon County was to receive 3.7 percent of the 65 percent which would be awarded to local governments. Mayfield-Davis stated the county would receive a total sum of $1.25 million over 18 years, which would come out to be $69,477.78 annually. To receive the settlement money, the BOCCC were required to sign the MOU.

“The question for the board is whether you would agree to this MOU, to the chairman’s signature on it, and as a secondary issue there is a settlement requirement to register Carbon County in participation in this settlement,” Mayfield-Davis.

A motion made by Commissioner John Espy for Chairman John Johnson to sign both the MOU and to register Carbon County in participation with the settlement passed unanimously.

The Board of Carbon County Commissioners will have met on December 21.

The next meeting of the Board of Carbon County Commissioners will be at 9 a.m. on January 4 at the Carbon Building - Courthouse Annex in Rawlins.