Eligible Municipalities Encouraged to Register in Historic Opioid Settlement

In a press release announcement sent Friday, December 3, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel urges eligible municipalities to register and voluntarily participate in two historic opioid settlements that would bring nearly $800 million to Michigan over 18 years.  

The participation deadline for local governments to receive direct payments is January 2, 2022. According to Nessel, the funding would "support ongoing prevention and treatment efforts across Michigan."

The agreements were announced in July in response to ongoing efforts to hold companies responsible for their roles in contributing to the opioid epidemic.

Based on the settlement terms, there are 277 local units of government, called subdivisions in the settlement agreement, that are eligible to participate in Michigan. 

Each of Michigan’s counties are part of that 277 total. Other municipalities are eligible if: 

• the municipality is currently litigating against the defendants; or 
• the municipality has a population of 10,000 people or more. 

We will continue to monitor this development. If you have inquiries as to whether your municipality is eligible to register, please review the full list of eligible subdivisions here. For more information on opioid resources, visit the Department of Attorney General at Michigan.gov.

Please contact a member of our municipal practice group if you have further questions.