City of Escanaba joins lawsuit against opioid manufacturers

ESCANABA — On December 15th, the City of Escanaba voted to join a lawsuit suing the manufactures of opioids in order to fight the drug epidemic.

The lawsuit comes after statistics revealed that 80 percent of criminal activity in the city is directly and indirectly related to the opioid problem. The Escanaba City Council believes this is the best form of action to take. They are joining 100 other municipalities nationwide in the lawsuit.

“The opioid epidemic is real, and it’s in Escanaba. We believe that we have taken the right step in joining with the other cities in counties to collectively sue the manufacturers and distributors of these terribly addictive drugs,” said Escanaba Mayor Marc Tall.

“It will take years to resolve this unless the manufactures, the distributors who are the defendants in this case want to settle which is something they could do, but we had to do it just as a step in the fight to defend our community,” said Escanaba City Manager Patrick Jordan.

The citizens of Escanaba should be aware that it will not come at a cost for the city to join this lawsuit. All money is being paid upfront by attorneys and if the lawsuit is won, 70 percent of the winnings will be awarded to the participating cities.