Commonwealth of Kentucky
Office of the Attorney General
Daniel Cameron
Attorney General
Capitol Building, Suite 118
700 Capital Avenue
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
(502) 696-5300
Fax: (502) 564-2894
December 19, 2023
OAG 23 - 11
Subject:
Whether Kentucky law requires counties to split certain opioid-
related settlements with the Kentucky Opioid Abatement
Advisory Commission.
Requested by:
Jordan Dallas Turner,
Boone County Attorney
Steven J. Franzen
Campbell County Attorney
Written by:
Jeremy J. Sylvester, Assistant Attorney General
Syllabus:
KRS 15.293(3)(a) mandates that 50% of the funds from any
settlement, judgment, or bankruptcy proceeding against certain
defendants goes to the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory
Commission’s trust fund.
Opinion of the Attorney General
The opioid epidemic is the public safety challenge of our lifetimes. In response,
Attorney General Daniel Cameron and local governments across the Commonwealth
filed lawsuits against the companies that contributed to and exacerbated the
epidemic. To date, over $800 million has been secured from such lawsuits.
During the 2021 and 2022 Regular Sessions, the General Assembly enacted
House Bill 427 and House Bill 92, respectively, to manage the proceeds from a subsetOpinion of the Attorney General 23-11
December 19, 2023
Page 2
2
of these lawsuits. Together, the bills provide that 50 percent of the proceeds goes to a
trust fund for the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission (the
Commission), and 50 percent goes to counties, consolidated local governments, urban-
county governments, and cities of the Commonwealth.1 Specifically, the General
Assembly said that the Commission’s trust fund shall receive:
Fifty percent (50%) of all proceeds received by the Commonwealth,
counties, consolidated local governments, urban-county governments,
and cities of the Commonwealth in any settlement or judgment or
bankruptcy proceeding against McKesson Corporations, Cardinal
Health 5, LLC, Amerisource Drug Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, and
any named defendants in the In re National Prescription Opiate
Litigation, MDL No. 2804, Case No. 1:17-md-02804, in the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, any of their affiliates or
subsidiaries related to opioid manufacturing or distribution to the
extent included in a settlement agreement.
KRS 15.293(3)(a)(emphasis added). The legislature’s unanimous decision to split
evenly the proceeds from the lawsuits described under this statute brought by the
Commonwealth and its political subdivisions had support from—among others—the
Kentucky League of Cities and the Kentucky Association of Counties.2
Now, several counties have informed the Office that they anticipate entering
into smaller, regional settlements with named defendants in In re National
Prescription Opiate Litigation. These counties ask whether KRS 15.293(3)(a) requires
them to deliver 50% of the settlement proceeds to the Commission’s trust fund. The
answer is a straightforward matter of statutory construction.
“Where the words used in a statute are clear and unambiguous and express
the legislative intent, there is no room for construction and the statute must be
accepted as it is written.” Commonwealth v. Holloway, 225 S.W.3d. 404, 406 (Ky. Ct.
App. 2007) (quoting Griffin v. City of Bowling Green, 458 S.W.2d 456, 457 (Ky. 1970)).
The legislature was clear in House Bill 427 and House Bill 92. It apportioned
settlements recovered through efforts of the Attorney General’s office equally
between the Commonwealth and local governments. This 50% share that the General
Assembly allocated to local governments is much more than other states typically
apportioned to their local governments from opioid settlements obtained by their
1
The Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission is administratively attached to the
Office of the Kentucky Attorney General.
2
See Office Press Release, Attorney General Cameron, Legislators, KLC Join Forces in Support
of Bill to Share Opioid Settlement Dollars (Feb. 23, 2021), available at
https://www.kentucky.gov/Pages/Activity-stream.aspx?n=AttorneyGeneral&p… of the Attorney General 23-11
December 19, 2023
Page 3
3
respective Attorneys General.3 This 50/50 apportionment of settlement funds likely
provides local governments with a significant net financial benefit despite retaining
only 50% of the settlement funds received from smaller settlements that they reach
with other defendants in the In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation.
Thus, where funds are realized as the result of any settlement, judgment, or
bankruptcy proceeding against named defendants in In re National Prescription
Opiate Litigation to which the Commonwealth is not itself a party, the proceeds must
still be shared according to the plan reflected in KRS 15.293—i.e., 50 percent must be
paid to the Commission’s trust fund and 50 percent may remain with the counties,
consolidated local governments, urban-county governments, or cities that are parties
to the subject regional or local settlements.
Daniel Cameron
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Jeremy J. Sylvester
Assistant Attorney General
3
For example, West Virginia only apportioned 24.5% of the settlement it reached with certain
opioid distributors to local governments. See Memorandum of Understanding with distributors,
available at
https://ago.wv.gov/Documents/2022.2.16%20Final%20MOU%20+%20Exhibits%20(M0442065xCECC
6).pdf. As another example, Ohio only allocated 30% of certain opioid settlements to local
governments, See Press Release, AG Yost Secures $679.6 M for Opioid Recovery from Settlement with
2 Drug Makers, 2 Pharmacies (June 6, 2023), available at
https://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/June-2023/AG-Yo…-
Million-for-Opioid-Recovery.