Leadership role in securing historic opioid settlement earns national recognition. 

Simon Greenstone Panatier, P.C., founding partner Jeffrey Simon has been selected by The National Law Journal as a Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazer for his leadership role in pursuing accountability in the ongoing opioid epidemic.   

Simon served as a lead negotiator in the Texas Opioid MDL and chairman of the Plaintiffs Steering Committee. A 2020 agreement with the Texas Attorney General’s office determined how the state opioid litigation would be negotiated, leading to Texas’ historic 2022 $1.85 billion settlement with several drug companies and distributors in the opioid supply chain.  

His work has helped ensure that opioid litigation settlement monies will be used almost exclusively to fund opioid epidemic-related efforts and appropriately apportioned among the communities impacted by the epidemic, including $75 million designated for the distribution of NARCAN® Nasal Spray across the state. 

“At its best, mass torts litigation is the work of improving public health and corporate accountability through the civil justice system. The work of plaintiff’s lawyers in opioid litigation upholds these ideals and catalyzes important, positive change,” Simon told the NLJ.  

“More work must be done, and is being done, as we continue to prosecute opioid supply companies that were prolific in the Texas market. We, as plaintiff’s lawyers, are doing work that improves public health in a space where government regulation largely failed.” 

Simon is one of 52 attorneys nationwide to be featured as Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Trailblazers. The full listing is featured in a special supplement to the May 2023 edition of The National Law Journal.