Tarrant County accepted more than $2 million in an opioid lawsuit settlement on Tuesday — part of a series of massive lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
The lawsuits accuse the companies of fueling the use of opioids, leading to addiction, overdose and death. Settlements have resulted in billions of dollars in payouts nationwide. The companies dispute the allegations.
Overdose deaths are a leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S., and most of those overdose deaths involve opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latest settlement amount for Tarrant County, totaling $2,218,523.80, comes from a lawsuit against McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, District Attorney’s Office spokesperson Anna Tinsley Williams said in an email.
The county previously received about $510,000 in opioid settlement money.
The state got $1.17 billion from the national settlement with McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, which was the fifth statewide opioid settlement Texas has secured, according to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office.
Tarrant County has one more lawsuit pending against CVS, Walmart, Kroger and Albertsons, according to the DA’s office.
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