City Attorney’s Office
Reference: Opioids Multi-District Litigation Settlements
To: Mayor Gregory Mills and Members of City Council
Through: Michael P. Martinez, City Manager
Prepared By: Alicia Calderón, City Attorney
Date Prepared: August 7, 2025
PURPOSE
To approve a resolution providing settlement authority to allow the City Attorney to sign settlement documents in the litigation on behalf of the City of Brighton (“City”).
BACKGROUND
The City has been a party to litigation against pharmacies and opioid manufacturers since January 23, 2019. The City is part of a coalition of municipalities and counties seeking damages for the effects of misrepresentation of the risks of long-term use of opioids and aggressive marketing and sales. Our case is one of the more than 2,000 federal court cases brought by counties, cities, tribes, and individuals against chain pharmacies, manufacturers, and distributors of prescription opioids. The largest pharmacies and manufacturers have settled, and the settlement funds are distributed to the State of Colorado pursuant to a Memorandum of Understanding among the City, the State, and other cities and counties in Colorado. Some of the larger settlements have been with Endo, Mallinckrodt, Kroger, Janssen, Walmart, and Johnson & Johnson.
Settlement has been reached with eight additional corporate defendants: Alvogen, Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Apotex, Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA, Indivior, Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries, and Zydus Pharmaceuticals USA. These settlements all together will have a gross value of around $ 720 million dollars over several years. In exchange for the settlement benefits, the City will be required to sign an agreement releasing the claims. Our attorneys at the firm of Keller Rohrback plan to submit a “master ballot” on behalf of all their clients, so we will just have to sign documents for them. Our submission of the documents is due by August 29, 2015.
The attached Resolution seeks City Council approval of the settlements and grants the City Attorney the authority to sign any settlement documents associated with the litigation.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The City Attorney’s Office recommends approving the resolution.
OPTIONS FOR COUNCIL CONSIDERATION
1. Approve the resolution as written.
2. Deny approval of the resolution.
3. Modify or amend the resolution.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Resolution