15.295 Local government fee fund.
615 words·~3 min read·
/ky/chapter-15/15-295A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
(1)There is hereby established a supplemental attorney fees fund to be used to
compensate private attorneys to be known as the local government fee fund.
These funds shall be maintained and administered by Wilmington Trust, N.A.,
which was appointed the Directed Trustee of the settlement administration of
the National Opioid Settlement.
(2)The local government fee fund shall consist of moneys received from any
national settlement included in KRS 15.293 or related to opioid manufacturing
or distribution. Moneys deposited in the fund shall be a percentage of the
collective local government share in Kentucky provided by KRS 15.293(4), that
when added to the percentage awarded to attorneys from the national
contingency fee fund established by court order in In re National Prescription
Opiate Litigation, MDL No. 2804, Case No. 1:17-md-02804, in the United
States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, shall not exceed fifteen
percent (15%) in aggregate. No portion of the state share as provided in KRS
15.293(3) shall be used for the local government fee fund or in any other way
to fund any participating local government's attorney's fees and costs.
(a)The amounts deposited into the fund shall be used to compensate
counsel for counties, consolidated local governments, urban-county
governments, and cities of the Commonwealth that filed an opioid lawsuit
on or before June 1, 2021.
(b)Allocation of payments out of the fund shall be determined by a
mathematical model to calculate allocation of payments to counsel from
the local government fee fund, which shall be based on the share of each
county, consolidated local government, urban-county government, and
city of the Commonwealth and shall be determined by the negotiation
class metrics and the rate set forth in their contingency contracts, which
shall be provided by counsel for a litigating participating local government,
in order for counsel to be eligible to receive payments from the local
government fee fund.
(c)Counsel shall not collect more for its work on behalf of a county,
consolidated local government, urban-county government, or city of the
Commonwealth from the national contingency fee fund or the local
government fee fund than fifteen percent (15%) of the aggregate of the
collective local government fee fund and the national contingency fee
fund as established in In re National Prescription Opiate Litigation, MDL
No. 2804, Case No. 1:17-md-02804, in the United States District Court for
the Northern District of Ohio. In order to collect from the local government
fee fund, counsel must also first apply to the national contingency fee
fund.
(4)No less than eighty-five percent (85%) of the proceeds received by each
county, consolidated local government, urban-county government, or city of the
Commonwealth shall go toward abatement of the opioid epidemic in those
communities.
(5)The amount and timing for the payments to counsel from the local government
fee fund shall be consistent with the percentages and timing set forth in Exhibit
R, Section II. A. 1. of the Distributor Settlement Agreement and Exhibit R,
Section II. A. 1. of the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) Settlement Agreement.
With respect to any future settlements, payments to the local government fee
fund shall be consistent with the attorney's fee and cost schedules set forth in
any future settlement agreements.
(6)Any funds remaining in the local government fee fund in excess of the amounts
needed to cover private counsels' representation agreements consistent with
the terms established in this section shall revert to the participating local
governments to be reallocated using the same Negotiation Class Metrics and
used for approved purposes as set forth herein and in KRS 15.293. Any
interest earnings of the fund shall become a part of the fund and shall not
lapse.