NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - December 20, 2017) - DeKalb County officials and community leaders are facing escalating costs associated with law enforcement, emergency care, and treatment to help those suffering from opioid abuse. In continuing their efforts to confront this crisis, on Wednesday, December 20, 2017, DeKalb County filed a complaint in Superior Court seeking damages for use of public resources to fight the opioid epidemic.

The complaint which includes close to 30 defendants, alleges that the manufacturers, distributors and others involved intentionally mislead the public about the dangers of opioids. The focus of the complaint centers around the efforts by pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors to aggressively market opioid painkillers while downplaying addiction. The results of these campaigns have been widespread misuse and abuse of opioids such as OxyContin, Fentanyl and Percocet.

"The pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and distributors cannot continue to mislead the public," Shayna E. Sacks, a partner at Napoli Shkolnik PLLC said. "This suit will hold big pharma accountable for the damage they have caused this community."

Deaths in DeKalb County related to opioid abuse including heroin have skyrocketed in recent years. In fact, opioid overdose deaths in Georgia tripled between 1999-2013.

Hunter J. Shkolnik, a partner at Napoli Shkolnik PLLC said, "there will be no cost to the DeKalb County taxpayers with this filing. Our office is committed to working with the county in its efforts to combat the devastation these painkillers continue to cause."

DeKalb County is represented by the firms of Napoli Shkolnik PLLC and the Law Office of Teri Thompson in coordination with the Office of the County Attorney.

About the firm
Napoli Shkolnik PLLC is uniquely positioned to take on the complex task of pursuing opioid litigation on behalf of government entities. The firm has a long and distinguished history of representing counties, cities, and other municipalities. It also has expertise in pharmaceu­tical litigation. Numerous state and federal courts across the country have appointed Napoli Shkolnik to leadership po­sitions in many of the largest pharmaceutical cases ever filed and the firm has been involved in nearly every major pharmaceutical mass tort case over the last two decades.