Home / Lectures / Amanda Sharkey, Arizona State University

How Institutional Scarring Shapes Legal Consciousness: Local Legal Action Against Opioid Manufacturers and the Legacy of Big Tobacco

Sharkey_Amanda_AUG2022

Amanda Sharkey, Arizona State University

Description

Semester:

  • Fall 2023

Speakers:

Amanda Sharkey

Lecture Time:

Fri, November 17, 2023 @ 1:30 pm to 3:00 pm

Lecture Location:

R0240, Ross building

Speaker Webpage(s):

https://search.asu.edu/profile/4230145

Introduced By:

No introduction available.

Abstract

Between 2017 and 2020, U.S. city and county attorneys’ offices filed a wave of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and distributors, seeking millions in damages. These suits departed drastically from these offices’ usual legal role, which is defensive and restricted to matters of local concern. To understand local jurisdictions’ motivation for engagement in the opioid litigation, we adopt a full-cycle research approach, drawing on interviews with county and city attorneys and quantitative event-history analyses of the legal filings of all U.S. counties. Our analyses reveal the important motivational role of historical events and point to an enabling factor of local action we call institutional scarring. Decades earlier, states had settled lawsuits against Big Tobacco; states’ distribution of funds left residual wariness among many local jurisdictions. When the opioid litigation emerged, counties were reluctant to leave litigation in state officials’ hands again. We show that counties whose states directed less money to tobacco cessation and prevention programs – often because they used tobacco settlement monies for other purposes – were more likely to file opioid suits. These findings inform the literatures on how distant experiences can affect organizations as well as how legal consciousness underpins local government action.

Recording & Additional Notes

No additional notes available.