Public Client Group Attorneys

The public client practice group at Napoli Shkolnik is uniquely positioned to represent state and local governments. Our attorneys are court appointed to numerous multidistrict and other coordinated actions to recover funding through litigation to ensure that government entities can continue to protect and provide for their citizens’ health and safety.

Our Approach

At Napoli Shkolnik, our dedicated Public Client Practice Group has the experience, resources and tenacity to achieve the best possible results. Our approach is simple. If your authority has a problem, our public client practice group looks for a solution that does not further impact taxpayers and/or rate payers.

We have an established track record of success that goes back several decades. Here are a few recent highlights.

Opioid Epidemic

The manufacturers of prescription opioids grossly misrepresented the risks of long-term use of those drugs for persons with chronic pain. The distributors failed to properly monitor suspicious orders of those prescription drugs--all of which contributed to the current opioid epidemic. The pharmacies filled those prescriptions ignoring red flags.

While these defendants made record profits, counties, cities, and municipalities were left with an addicted population to care for. Public authorities are entitled to recover these costs due to the defendants' negligence.

To date, national settlements have been reached with Janssen, Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, Teva, Allergan, CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart. Funding from these settlements have begun to flow into our communities. The firm is still in litigation against defendants across the country.

Firearm Industry Litigation

Napoli Shkolnik represents the cities of Buffalo and Rochester in two separate lawsuits against the gun industry.

The suits are brought under a law signed in 2021, which makes it illegal for participants in the gun industry to contribute to a condition that “endangers the safety or health of the public through the sale, manufacturing, importing, or marketing of an illegal firearm. Co-defendants include Bushmaster Firearms, Vintage Firearms, Smith & Wesson Brands, Beretta USA Corp, Colt’s Manufacturing Co., and Glock. Napoli Shkolnik is proud to represent the cities of Rochester and Buffalo in these landmark lawsuits, aimed at limiting the use of firearms in violent crimes and improving safety and quality of life in both cities.

Environmental Litigation

The federal Clean Water Act allows “any citizen,” including cities, counties, and municipalities, to seek redress for environmental damages in court. This redress usually includes financial compensation, permanent injunctions, and other relief.

At Napoli Shkolnik, our public client practice group primarily focuses on a number of environmental contamination issues, such as:

  • PFOA Water Poisoning: Many Air Force bases and private airports used firefighting foam laced with perfluorooctanoic acid. This dangerous chemical is highly carcinogenic. Additionally, once this chemical seeps into the soil, it remains there for years, continually contaminating the water supply.
  • Roundup: A growing body of evidence links glyphosate, a key chemical in Monsanto’s residential and commercial weed killer, with cancer. In 2017, California was the first state to issue an official warning concerning the use and sale of glyphosate and Roundup.
  • Lead Poisoning: Flint, Michigan was just the tip of the iceberg. Many companies used substandard plumbing materials in public housing units, particularly in New York and New Jersey. These residents now must deal with the crippling physical and mental effects of long-term lead poisoning.

We also focus on oil spills, hydraulic fracking, and any other environmental pollution which affects a large number of taxpayers in a specific area.

Generic Drug Antitrust Litigation

Napoli represents dozens of self-insured governmental entities and private companies in the coordinated

Generic Drugs Pricing Scheme

litigation known as In re Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania to seek relief due to massive price hikes implemented by pharmaceutical companies on a multitude of generic drugs.

As a member of the Executive Committee for the Self -Funded Payer Track, Napoli is at the forefront and leading the charge for plaintiffs in coordinated civil litigation in the District Court for the District of New Jersey against the three dominant insulin manufacturers and three major pharmacy benefit managers (“PBMs”) for violations of the RICO Act and state laws regarding deceptive acts, false and misleading misrepresentations, breach of contract and unjust enrichment. The Defendants’ deliberate actions placed substantial economic burdens on self-funded health plans, impacting both their members and beneficiaries – all the while the manufacturers amassed billions of dollars for themselves and lined their PBM co-conspirators’ pockets through kickback schemes and agreements.

It is widely known that generic drugs were originally created to make healthcare affordable for Americans, as manufacturers would use the identical active pharmaceutical ingredient molecule as brand drugs at lower costs. After Congress enacted the Hatch Waxman Act in 1984, Americans enjoyed decades of low-priced generic drugs under a modern system of regulation, which facilitated and encouraged competition between drug manufacturers. However, these manufacturers began to engage in anticompetitive practices by taking steps to prevent price erosion, avoiding competitive bidding and refraining from engaging in competition upon entering specific generic markets. Competitors collaborated to collectively raise and sustain prices for generic drugs, systematically eliminating competition by conspiring to allocate customers, manipulate bids, and fix prices for specific generic drugs. Defendants participated in an overarching conspiracy to increase prices and reduce competition across the entire spectrum of generic drugs since at least 2010. Even in markets with only one manufacturer, they maintained prices above the competitive level, anticipating cooperative entry by another manufacturer at supra-competitive prices.

What does this mean to local governments? Their group health plans usually rely on less-expensive generic drugs to reduce costs. When these drug prices are artificially high, the counties, cities, and municipalities that sponsor these plans pay the price. If your public employee health plan costs increased due to overpriced generic drugs, it is highly advisable to exercise your legal rights.

Insulin Pricing Litigation

Insulin Pricing Scheme

Diabetes continues to be one of the leading causes of death in the United States, and insulin is a

medication used by millions to regulate blood sugar levels and manage this terrible disease. Since 2003, countless government entities have purchased insulin and other diabetic medication from the manufacturers through PBMs, unwittingly paying exorbitantly high prices due to the insulin pricing scheme. The Defendants caused higher costs for payors and plan members over the last two decades, raising prices despite decreased manufacturing expenses, and insulin's longstanding history and stable formulation.

Social Media Addiction

Social Media Litigation Infographic

Napoli represents multiple school boards in coordinated litigation in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California against major social media corporations that own, operate, control, produce, design, maintain, manage, develop, test, label, market, advertise, promote, supply, and distribute the widely popular social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube. School boards, government entities and other plaintiffs assert that these platforms are defective, designed to maximize screen time and encourage addictive behavior in adolescents, leading to various emotional and physical harms. School boards and governmental entities are actively pursuing negligence claims, seeking damages for the public nuisance created by the social media companies across the country.

Beyond the personal toll on children, the impact of social media has incurred significant costs for school districts. From hiring additional personnel to address mental health issues, developing resources, and training staff to identify and address problems, schools are bearing the burden of the social media-induced crisis. Costs also include property damage, increased disciplinary services, and the diversion of time and resources from educational activities. The detrimental effects of social media on academic performance over the past decade necessitate a comprehensive evaluation by School Board Financial Committees, Departments, and/or Advisors for potential economic losses. The litigation emphasizes the prioritization of financial growth over the well-being of schoolchildren and young adults in the United States.

In the age of widespread social media usage, nearly all U.S. teenagers aged 13-17, actively participate on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. These platforms, possessing algorithms specifically optimized for user engagement, easily disseminate extreme content and pose potential risks for minors. Crafted with a deliberate aim to attract young users, these platforms take advantage of the psychological vulnerabilities of children and adolescents. This exploitation plays a role in an unprecedented mental health crisis characterized by issues like sleep disturbances, depression, and self-harming behavior. Consequently, these platforms are currently under legal scrutiny due to allegations of consciously designing addictive and harmful products. As these social media platforms accumulated billions of users worldwide, companies harvested extensive personal data, enabling the practice of micro-targeted advertising. This exploitation of user information has fueled a consistent rise in mental health crises among U.S. children since 2010, resulting in severe consequences, including suicide becoming the second leading cause of death for youth by 2018.


At Napoli Shkolnik PLLC, our public client practice group helps you protect your people. Call us today for a FREE CONSULTATION. We handle these matters on a nationwide basis.

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