TORONTO, Oct. 18, 2021 /CNW/ - Sotos Class Actions and Goldblatt Partners LLP have commenced a class action lawsuit against global consulting firm McKinsey & Company for its role in fuelling the opioid epidemic in Canada. The class action names McKinsey's Canadian and US arms as defendants. The representative of the class, Jordan Francis Charlie, a resident of Northern Ontario, was first prescribed OxyContin in 2007 due to a back injury sustained while working in forestry. Mr. Charlie soon developed a devastating addiction to opioids, resulting in the loss of his job and the custody of his child. Mr. Charlie's tragic experience with highly addictive, ineffective, and unsafe prescription opioids is typical of thousands of Canadians.
In 2021, McKinsey & Company reached a roughly $596 million-dollar settlement with attorneys-general in multiple US states. The settlement was reached after McKinsey's extensive role in pushing the sale of OxyContin by Purdue Pharma L.P. was disclosed. Purdue has since filed for bankruptcy protection.
Canada is the world's second largest consumer of opioids, second only to the United States. In Canada, prescription use of opioids increased by 203% between 2000 and 2010, while sales of OxyContin soared during the same period. According to the Government of Canada, from January 2016 to December 2020, there were 21,174 apparent opioid-related deaths across Canada and 24,671 hospitalizations for opioid-related overdoses. McKinsey has never been held accountable in Canada for its role in the opioid epidemic.
McKinsey is a global management consulting firm, with over 30,000 employees and operations in more than 65 countries.
As a former McKinsey consultant described it, McKinsey's work driving revenues for opioid producers was the "the banality of evil, M.B.A. edition…They knew what was going on. And they found a way to look past it, through it, around it, so as to answer the only questions they cared about: how to make the client money, and when the walls closed in, how to protect themselves."
The class action seeks damages for the alleged negligence of McKinsey, breaches of consumer protections statutes, conspiracy, health care costs and unjust enrichment. The proposed class to be covered by the lawsuit generally consists of all persons resident in Canada who were prescribed opioids and who subsequently developed an addiction to opioids between 2002 and the date the class action is certified.
According to plaintiff counsel Louis Sokolov: "The ripple effects from opioid addictions, overdoses and hospitalisations will be felt throughout Canadian society for decades. Even after the staggering toll of opioids was made clear, McKinsey counselled Purdue on how to "turbo-charge" the sale of opioids. As governments and health care providers sought to douse the flames of the opioid epidemic, McKinsey threw gasoline on the fire."
Further information on the case and the statement of claim can be found here.
Media contact:
Louis Sokolov or David Sterns at Sotos Class Actions or Jody Brown at Goldblatt Partners LLP.
SOURCE Goldblatt Partners LLP
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