An appeals court Thursday rejected a request from Attorney General Ashley Moody to send to the Florida Supreme Court a case about whether hospital districts and school boards should be able to pursue opioid epidemic lawsuits after Moody reached settlements with the pharmaceutical industry.
The 1st District Court of Appeal did not explain its decision.
Moody’s office on Aug. 29 requested that the appeals court take a step known as certifying a “question of great public importance” to the Supreme Court. That came after a panel of the court ruled against Moody in a dispute about whether she had the power to enter settlements that would effectively trump separate lawsuits by local government agencies.
The panel ruled in favor of the Sarasota County Public Hospital District, Lee Memorial Health System, North Broward Hospital District, South Broward Hospital District, Halifax Hospital Medical Center, Miami-Dade County School Board and Putnam County School Board.
The local agencies are seeking to recover costs from drug distributors, manufacturers or pharmacies related to treating patients or educating children who have been affected by the epidemic.
Moody argued the state’s settlements should override the agencies’ lawsuits. Moody’s office entered into seven settlements with a variety of companies — with each of the settlements including a “release” of claims filed by local governments.
Some settlements resulted from multistate litigation while others came as a result of a lawsuit that the attorney general’s office filed in Pasco County.
Moody in 2022 filed a lawsuit in Leon County circuit court against the hospital districts and school boards to try to prevent their claims against the industry. Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper ruled in favor of Moody, but the appeals court panel overturned that decision.
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