On Wednesday, July 5th, Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford held a press conference announcing a $285 million settlement between the State of Nevada and Walgreens. With this settlement, the Nevada Attorney General’s office with Eglet Adams as outside counsel, has brought in more than $1.1 billion in opioid-related settlements for the state. The money will be used to help fund programs that will assist Nevadans directly impacted by the epidemic.
Press Conference
A press conference was held at the Grant Sawyer State Office Building on Wednesday, July 5th, where Chief Deputy Attorney General Mark Krueger and Eglet Adams’ Senior Partners Robert Eglet and Robert Adams joined Attorney General Ford as he announced the $285 million Walgreens settlement as well as the total amount of settlements reached on behalf of the state of Nevada and the various manufacturers and distributors of opioids.
“With this announcement, I am extremely proud to say that again we have settled with essentially all of the defendants in our pending opioid litigation. We have held accountable these defendants and we’ve secured to this date, over $1.1 billion for the state of Nevada,” said Ford.
The settlement agreements were the result of the ongoing litigation and mediation efforts by the state of Nevada and Eglet Adams serving as outside counsel. In 2019, the state of Nevada sought to hire a firm to serve as outside counsel to assist with the growing opioid epidemic litigation. After a rigorous application process, Eglet Adams was selected due to its expertise in high-stakes personal injury lawsuits, mass tort litigation, and experience litigating high-profile cases with proven results against the pharmaceutical industry.
Ford spoke of the state’s outside counsel agreement with Eglet Adams, stating, “This firm has been an extraordinary force for work to hold corporations accountable. It has done exemplary work for Nevada and for Nevadans. It’s dedicated a full 2/3 of its office personnel to this case and it’s expended thousands upon thousands of hours preparing this case for trial. The firm was instrumental in our settlement negotiations with all defendants. Their counsel was absolutely invaluable, and their advice frankly has been incomparable. I can say without hyperbole that we would not be sitting here today with over $1.1 billion in settlements where it not for Eglet Adams.”
Ford went on to explain that due to the efforts of Eglet Adams, Nevada was able to obtain a far greater amount of funds than if the State had opted in to global settlements.
Concluding the press conference, Attorney General Ford outlined the importance of the settlement funds and the impact that they will have on Nevadans who have suffered due to the opioid epidemic. “This funding will do real things for real people, sadly there is no shortage of uses for money earmarked to fight the opioid epidemic in Nevada. Our state has been devastated by the opioid crisis, it’s been and it continues to be one of the hardest hit by this crisis,” said Ford.
The Law Office of Eglet Adams
In addition to serving as outside counsel for the state of Nevada, Eglet Adams currently represents the following cities and counties in opioid-related lawsuits:
- Carson City
- Churchill County
- Clark County
- Douglas County
- Esmeralda County
- Humboldt County
- Lincoln County
- Lyon County
- Washoe County
- White Pine County
- City of Henderson
- City of Las Vegas
- City of North Las Vegas
- City of Reno
- City of Sparks
- City of West Wendover
- City of Ely
- City of Fernley
- North Lyon Fire Protection District
- Central Lyon Fire Protection District
Eglet Adams’ opioid litigation is far from the first time this small firm has gone up against a massive corporate titan despite the odds. In 2019, Eglet Adams obtained an $800 million settlement for the victims of the Route 91 shooting, in 2013, the firm obtained a $524 million verdict against a health insurance company for those injured at a local endoscopy clinic, and in 2010, Eglet Adams secured $505 million against Teva Pharmaceuticals for their role in manufacturing and distributing vials of Propofol that served as the vehicle for spreading Hepatitis C in an outbreak that exposed 63,000 patients in Las Vegas.
Eglet Adams is one of the most successful and well-respected law firms in the state of Nevada and has been recognized repeatedly as a consumer rights advocate, consistently obtaining substantial verdicts for its catastrophically injured clients. The firm obtained the largest catastrophic injury verdict in the country in 2010, as well as in 2013, and obtained the three largest catastrophic injury verdicts in Nevada history totaling $524 million, $505 million, and $186.2 million. Eglet Adams has been routinely named as one of the Most Influential Plaintiff Law Firms in the United States, one of the 12 Best Plaintiff’s Law Firms in the Country, and one of the 50 Best Trial Firms in America by the National Law Journal.
