“A Second Pa DA Sues AG Shapiro office over Opioid Settlement, Phil Inquirer, August 2, 2021

Update: In February 2022, the Commonwealth Court dismissed the lawsuits:

The Commonwealth Court essentially agreed it is too early in the settlement process for the court to rule on the rights of each side.

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court on Friday dismissed lawsuits brought by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner and Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro over a national opioid settlement that Shapiro helped negotiate — and which the two DAs have indicated they have no interest in joining.

Krasner and Zappala sued Shapiro last summer, and had asked the court to declare that the AG could not “release,” or do away with, their own lawsuits against drug companies under the $26 billion national settlement proposed in July.

Shapiro’s office argued the DAs did not have authority to sue the state attorney general over the matter, and said the DAs’ suits were premature since the settlement process was ongoing. Counties and other local governments had until Jan. 26 to join the settlement — which is expected to deliver $1 billion to Pennsylvania over 18 years — and companies involved in the agreement still have several weeks to review it.

In its order issued Friday, the Commonwealth Court essentially agreed it is too early in the settlement process for the court to rule on the rights of each side, since the settlement agreement “has yet to be executed” and “may still be modified.”

Supplemental reading:

https://www.inquirer.com/business/pennsylvania-commonwealth-court-ruling-krasner-philadelphia-lawsuit-shapiro-opioid-settlement-20220204.html