Local law firm one of five high-profile firms signed by Fort Lauderdale, Broward County to sue drug makers, distributors for role in opioid epidemic

Fort Lauderdale firm Haliczer, Pettis and Schwamm P.A. is part of a five-firm legal team selected by both Broward County, Fla. and the city of Fort Lauderdale, to pursue litigation against opioid manufacturers and distributors whose drugs and relentless sales and marketing programs have led to thousands of deaths and billions of dollars in cost to South Florida and the country.

Haliczer Pettis and Schwamm, Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert, Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, Morgan & Morgan and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd form a distinguished group of litigators with national, state and local prominence.

“Our group provides Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale with the legal skills and resources to take on these pharmaceutical companies. We have a proven record of civic engagement that will hopefully lead us to find a sense of healing for the families and communities broken by calculated greed on the part of these companies,” said Eugene Pettis, partner with Haliczer, Pettis and Schwamm.

“There is no question that both the county and the city of Fort Lauderdale had excellent firms to choose from. However, I believe that what we brought to the table was an impressive combination of skill, knowledge and leadership to this task,” said Pettis. “We are fortunate to have three of the lawyers who serve as plaintiffs’ leadership for the opioid multidistrict litigation consolidated in Ohio.”

The three are Elizabeth Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser in San Francisco, Paul Geller of Robbins Geller in Boca Raton, and James Young of Morgan & Morgan in Jacksonville.

Broward County, the city of Fort Lauderdale, and South Florida in general have suffered from the opioid crisis. The region was at the epicenter of opioid “pill mill” explosion in 2008 and 2009, Pettis recalled. Of the 50 largest dispensing practitioners of Oxycontin in the U.S., 49 were located in Florida, Broward County having the highest percentage. The scourge continues. Broward County alone had 522 opiate overdose deaths in 2016 and even more in 2017.

“We are excited to get started in representing both Broward County and the city of Fort Lauderdale. There are very few people whose lives have not been touched by the devastation of this public health crisis by knowing some who has died or is addicted to opioids,” said Pettis. “The time has come for those companies who put profits over people, to pay.”

About Haliczer, Pettis & Schwamm

Haliczer, Pettis & Schwamm, P.A. represents a variety of clients from numerous industries including medical malpractice, personal injury, wrongful death, professional liability, workers compensation, business and commercial litigation, appellate practice and insurance cases. Founded by James Haliczer, Eugene Pettis, and Richard Schwamm in 1996, the firm has offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando to help serve clients across the state of Florida.