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U.S. NEWS Saturday 11 January 2020

$ 10

Opioid-dependent

kids' guardians seek

to form class in suit

By MARK GILLISPIE 400,000 with between
Associated Press 20,000 and 30,000 NAS ba-
CLEVELAND (AP) — Guard- bies born each year, Dann
ians caring for hundreds said
of thousands of children Some states have created
born dependent on opi- registries for children diag-
oids since 2000 should be nosed with NAS while oth-
grouped together as part ers have not, Dann said. In
of the class action lawsuit most cases, the children's
filed by local governments guardians are grandpar-
and others against the ents or someone who has
manufacturers, distributors been appointed to that
and sellers of prescription role.
pain medication, lawyers A national registry would
argued in a motion filed in allow scientists to accumu- In this photo taken Dec. 30, 2019, Sharena Thomas, left, Carroll Fife, center, Dominique Walker,
federal court in Cleveland. late more data to refine second from right, and Tolani KIng, right, stand outside a vacant home on Magnolia Street in West
In addition to certifying the how best to treat these Oakland, Calif.
guardians as a class, the children at each stage of Associated Press
attorneys who filed the mo- their development, Dann
tion Tuesday want U.S. Dis- said. Judge orders homeless women
trict Judge Dan Polster to Research has found that
identify children diagnosed on opioids suffer from de- to leave house they're occupying
create a national registry to children born dependent

with neonatal abstinence velopmental delays, medi-
syndrome, form a medical cal problems and are sus- By JANIE HAR en to live on the streets. methods of speculators
panel to recommend the ceptible to becoming ad- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The judge denied Walker's who they say snap up dis-
best ways to treat such chil- dicts themselves as they Homeless women who request to offer expert tes- tressed homes and leave
dren, and provide money grow older, Dann said. are illegally occupying a timony on the right to hous- them empty despite the
for those efforts as quickly "We haven't started this house in the expensive San ing through federal and in- housing crisis.
as possible. process as a society to fig- Francisco Bay Area do not ternational law. "Wedgewood takes no
"The urgency of this is, the ure this out," he said. "It's a have the right to stay and "The court recognizes the pleasure in having the
longer we wait, the more large effort, no question, to must leave within five days, importance of these issues sheriff enforce the court's
difficult it is to help these get there." a judge ruled Friday. but, as raised in connec- order to evict the squat-
children," said Cleveland As do other plaintiffs in the Alameda County Superior tion with Ms. Walker's claim ters," company spokes-
attorney Marc Dann, who class action lawsuit, at- Court Judge Patrick McK- of right to possession, finds man Sam Singer said in a
filed the motion along with torneys for the guardians inney previously issued a that they are outside the statement. "The solution to
attorneys from Texas and seeking to be certified as a tentative ruling in favor of scope of this proceeding," Oakland's housing crisis is
Louisiana. group allege the pharma- Wedgewood Inc., a real McKinney wrote. not the redistribution of citi-
There currently are about ceutical industry engaged estate investment group The case reflects Califor- zens' homes through illegal
400 guardians for children in a conspiracy to increase that bought the Oakland nia's severe housing short- break-ins and seizures by
born dependent on opioids the number of people ad- property at a foreclosure age and growing numbers squatters."
who have filed individual dicted to prescription pain- auction last year. of homeless people. Fed- The women are not sur-
claims in the pending law- killers, a claim the industry Still, he allowed lawyers for eral officials said last month prised by the ruling but
suit that Dann said could has denied in court and in one of the women, Domi- that an uptick in the coun- have no plans to leave the
be folded into the larger motions. nique Walker, and her re- try's homeless population house, their lawyer said.
group. The motion filed this "Over time, as science dis- cently formed collective, was driven entirely by a "We understand that the
week was made initially on proved the claims of the Moms 4 Housing, to make 16% increase in California, court's hands are tied be-
behalf of a handful guard- pharmaceutical industry, their case. They argued where the median sales cause in this country prop-
ians in Ohio and Califor- those parents were driven that housing is a right and price of a home is $500,000 erty rights are valued over
nia and seeks to include to the streets to buy manu- that the court must give the and is even higher in the human rights," said Leah Si-
guardians from across the factured opioids or heroin," women the right to possess San Francisco Bay Area. mon-Weisberg, an attorney
country, he said. Dann said. "They went from the house, especially be- The women and their chil- from the Alliance of Califor-
The total number of chil- being customers of doc- cause it sat vacant for so dren moved into the three- nians for Community Em-
dren born dependent on tors to customers of the long and the alternative bedroom house in Novem- powerment, which is help-
opioids since 2000 is around cartels."q would be to send the wom- ber, partly to protest the ing the women in court. q