When Charleston City Councilman Rusty Webb resigned earlier this week, it was so he could prepare for a new role with the city - representing it in a potential lawsuit against drug wholesalers.
Council members cannot represent the city in legal matters, so Webb chose to step aside to pursue the lawsuit.
Webb said he felt he could better serve the city by representing it in the lawsuit. Webb will serve as co-counsel for on the lawsuit with Jesse Forbes, of Charleston-based Forbes Law Offices.
"My civic nature is still there. I'm serving the city by helping it fight the war against opioids instead of being a council member," Webb said.
Webb said the city is working on a potential contract for the lawsuit. City Manager David Molgaard did not respond to an interview request about the potential lawsuit.
Webb said defendants have not yet been decided for the lawsuit, but he and Forbes are looking at not only wholesalers but also local doctors and pharmacies.
Webb already is representing multiple other cities and counties in similar lawsuits, including Huntington.
Webb said he expects Charleston's lawsuit to be similar to Huntington's. Three wholesalers - AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp., Cardinal Health Inc. and McKesson Corp. - were listed as defendants, as well as a local doctor.
He also said he'd prefer for the lawsuit to be argued in Kanawha Circuit Court. The distributors listed in Huntington's lawsuit have asked that the case, which was filed in Cabell Circuit Court in January, to be moved to federal court in February.
This is the first time Charleston has publicly released information about a potential lawsuit.
The Kanawha County Commission filed a lawsuit against 16 prescription drug distributors in March. Several other cities and counties have filed similar lawsuits throughout the state.
More than 1,700 West Virginians fatally overdosed on oxycodone and hydrocodone between 2007 and 2012, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen, two drug wholesalers that have shipped massive quantities of pain pills to Southern West Virginia, paid $36 million to settle a lawsuit with the state in January.
A Pulitzer Prize-winning Gazette-Mail investigation, "Painkiller Profiteers," found wholesalers poured more than 780 million hydrocodone and oxycodone pills into West Virginia over six years.
Reach Ali Schmitz at ali.schmitz@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4843 or follow @SchmitzMedia on Twitter.