HOSPITAL AUTHORITY OF WAYNE COUNTY v. AMERISOURCEBERGEN DRUG CORPORATION

Before Georgia joined a nationwide settlement with opioid manufacturers and distributors, the Hospital Authority of Wayne County sued several of those companies to recover money it spent treating opioid-dependent patients. The authority chose not to join the later state-wide settlement. In 2022 Georgia passed a law, the Settlement Act, that bars any governmental entity from pursuing claims against companies released under the settlement. The authority's case ended up in a large federal case in Ohio, where the drug companies asked to have its claims dismissed under that bar. The authority argued the bar was an unconstitutional retroactive law under the Georgia Constitution, and the federal court asked the Supreme Court of Georgia two questions, starting with whether the authority even had legal power to make that argument. The Supreme Court of Georgia held that hospital authorities have no powers of their own beyond what the legislature gives them, and the new settlement law took away whatever power the authority previously had to pursue these claims. Because the authority lacked authority to raise the challenge, the court did not need to answer the second question about whether the law is actually unconstitutional.

A hospital authority, as a creature of the legislature with no inherent powers, only has the authority the legislature gives it, and the 2022 Settlement Act's preemption provision eliminated whatever power the authority had to pursue or challenge claims against settling opioid companies; therefore it lacks legal authority to raise the constitutional challenge.

The ruling means hospital authorities and similar government-created entities across Georgia cannot pursue opioid claims against settling companies, and it confirms the legislature can strip such entities of litigation rights it previously granted, affecting how state-created bodies challenge future laws.

Certified questions answered (first question answered no; second not reached)

1. The court read the preemption provision's plain text, which bars 'any and all past, present or future claims' by governmental entities against released companies and forbids such claims from being 'brought, threatened, asserted or pursued in any way in any court.'
2. Using dictionary definitions of 'pursue,' the court found that opposing the dismissal motion to keep a lawsuit alive counts as pursuing a claim, so the hospital authority's constitutional challenge fell within the law's broad bar unless some other legal rule protected it.
3. The hospital authority argued that its statutory power to sue and be sued, and to exercise powers held by private corporations, gave it authority to raise the challenge, relying on a past case (Caldwell v. Hospital Authority of Charlton County) that let a hospital authority assert due process and equal protection claims based on those same statutory powers.
4. The court explained that a hospital authority, as an entity created by the legislature, has no powers of its own except those the legislature grants, and the legislature can expand, reduce, or eliminate those powers at any time, including through a later, more specific law like the Settlement Act.
5. Applying the rule that a newer, more specific statute controls over an older, general one, the court concluded the 2022 Settlement Act overrode the authority's earlier statutory powers under OCGA § 31-7-75, so the legislature validly took away the authority's power to pursue or challenge these claims.
6. Because the authority lacked the legal power to raise the constitutional challenge in the first place, the court did not need to decide whether the settlement law's bar actually violates the Georgia Constitution's ban on retroactive laws.

• opioid settlement
• Hospital Authority of Wayne County
• OCGA 10-13B preemption
• retroactive laws
• certified question