After losing in an appeals court, Attorney General Ashley Moody went to the Florida Supreme Court in a potentially high-stakes battle over whether hospital districts and school boards should be able to file lawsuits over the opioid epidemic after reached agreements with the pharmaceutical industry.

Lawyers from Moody’s office filed a series of notices on Friday that are a first step in asking the Supreme Court to take up the matter.

A panel of the 1st District Court of Appeal in August rejected Moody’s arguments that it had the power to strike deals with the industry that would defeat separate lawsuits by local government agencies. The appeals court later denied a request to take a step known as certification of a “question of great public importance” to the Supreme Court.

As is customary, the notices filed Friday do not detail the arguments Moody’s office will make to the Supreme Court.

The dispute stems, at least in part, from seven settlements Moody’s office reached with a variety of companies over costs related to the opioid epidemic. Each of the regulations included an “exemption” from applications submitted by local authorities. Some settlements resulted from multi-state litigation — what’s known as a global settlement — while others came as a result of a lawsuit the attorney general’s office filed in Pasco County.

In 2022, Moody filed a lawsuit in Leon County court against the hospital districts and school boards to try to preempt their claims against the industry. The suit said Moody’s settlements would provide money for opioid treatment, prevention and recovery services and that the money would go to communities across the state.

Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper agreed with Moody last year, saying the Legislature “specifically granted the attorney general the authority to enforce consumer protection laws” and that Moody has the power to enter into agreements that prevent separate claims.

But a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals in Tallahassee reversed Cooper’s decision on Aug. 14 and ruled in favor of Sarasota County Public Hospital District, Lee Memorial Health System, North Broward Hospital District, South Broward Hospital District, Halifax. Hospital Medical Center, Miami-Dade County School Board and Putnam County School Board.

Local agencies sought to recover costs from drug distributors, manufacturers or pharmacies related to treating patients or educating children who were affected by the epidemic.

“The Attorney General does not have the statutory authority to unilaterally dismiss, for example, the actual and individual damages suffered by the two school boards for damages and increased costs for complying with the federal Special Educational Needs Act for students with disabilities – alleged disabilities through actions. of the opioid (industry) defendants who caused students or their parents to become addicted to prescription opioids,” the appeals court ruling said. “And this is just one example. Special hospital districts also assert individual and actual damages, separate from the general public, for the alleged harms caused by opioid defendants, which have caused these hospitals to provide specialized medical care for opioid-dependent and injured patients. It is not within the competence of the Attorney General to make such decisions.”

In a filing in late August with the appeals court, Moody’s office said that if the commission’s decision stands, the state will lose at least $87 million in what are described as “stimulus” payments. A document filed last year said two agreements included base payments and incentive payments. Incentive payments are linked to participation in local authority settlements.

In the August filing, Moody’s office also argued that “much more funding is at stake: For every dollar recovered by a subdivision (local government) against opioid defendants, an equal amount is subtracted from the state’s recovery. With many of the seven appellants (local agencies) already filing cases, the state will lose hundreds of millions in opioid aid.”