County takes no action on litigation

Thu, 05/23/2019 - 12:00am

Thursday, May 23, 2019

The Hays County Commissioners Court took no steps toward a possible lawsuit against players in the opioid industry Tuesday.

The commissioners and the county’s general counsel held a discussion in executive session about a request for qualifications (RFQ) for legal services for opioid litigation. The RFQ, which the county posted April 15, asks for a law firm to provide special counsel “to evaluate the merits of, and to the extent desired by the County, pursue litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and others related to the impact of opioid manufacturing, marketing, distribution, and use in Hays County.”

However, the commissioners took no action when they reconvened open session Tuesday.

Many cities, counties and states have filed lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, pharmaceutical distributors and even drugstore chains. The state of Texas filed a lawsuit against Purdue Pharma in 2018 for violating state laws against deceptive trade practices and misrepresenting the risk of addiction to its painkillers to physicians and patients. Travis County has also filed a lawsuit regarding opioid abuse.

In other business, the commissioners heard a report from Charles Campise on the latest Hill Country Mental Health Developmental Disabilities board meeting. Campise serves as Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra’s representative on the board. Campise had good news about the work that is being done in the Hill Country MHDD region.

“Commissioner [Lon] Shell was mentioned specifically by the CEO of our agency as someone who’s currently championing … moves toward more preventative care,” Campise said.

Hill Country MHDD will be working closely with the San Marcos CISD to get more funding to provide “all kinds of mental health services, particularly for the high school here in San Marcos,” he said.

However, Campise said that salaries remain a challenge within the region, and the turnover rate for mental health care workers is “unacceptable.”