Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, who obtained a $475 million judgment last year against opioidmanufacturer Johnson & Johnson, announced on Monday a newlawsuit against three distributors of the prescriptionpainkillers.

The lawsuit, filed on Monday, seeks to hold McKesson Corp.,Cardinal Health Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Drug Corp. liable forOklahoma's costs associated with the opioid crisis.

Related: Opioid epidemic cost U.S. $631 billion over thepast 4 years

"Defendants in this case are three major drug distributors whoact as middle-men in the pharmaceutical drug supply chain," Hunterwrote in the lawsuit, which he filed in Cleveland County DistrictCourt. "Defendants fueled the opioid crisis by supplying massiveand patently unreasonable quantities of opioids to communitiesthroughout the United States, including Oklahoma. Defendantsignored their duties and responsibility to protect againstoversupply and diversion of opioids for illicit and non-medicaluses. Defendants did so for one reason: greed."

The suit drew a quick response from some of the defendants.

McKesson spokesman David Matthews wrote in an email: "Ourcompany plays an important but limited role in the pharmaceuticalsupply chain, and any suggestion that McKesson drove demand foropioids in this country reflects a fundamental misunderstanding andmischaracterization of our role as a distributor. We will continueto fight that mischaracterization and defend ourselves in thelitigation."

In a statement, AmerisourceBergen noted that opioidpharmaceuticals made up 2 percent of the company's sales:"We are dedicated to doing our part as a distributor to mitigatethe diversion of these drugs without interfering with clinicaldecisions made by doctors, who interact directly with patients anddecide what treatments are most appropriate for their care. Beyondour reporting and immediate halting of potentially suspiciousorders, we refuse service to customers we deem as a diversion riskand provide daily reports to the DEA that detail the quantity,type, and the receiving pharmacy of every single order of theseproducts that we distribute."

A Cardinal Health spokeswoman respondedby stating that the company "supports the globalsettlement framework as a path to opioid litigationresolution."

She added: "We continue to be actively involved in theprogression of the settlement framework. If it is not successful,we are prepared to vigorously defend ourselves at trials and areconfident that the facts presented will show we take our role andthe responsibility that comes with it seriously, work hard everyday to get it right, and make changes when we find ways toimprove."

The lawsuit comes after Hunter's office has racked up more than$363 million in settlements with other companies tied to the opioidcrisis, most recently on Friday, when Endo Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $8.75 million to settle claimsout of court. Last year, Hunter's office reacheda $270million settlement with Purdue Pharma, which has sincefiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and an $85 million settlement with TevaPharmaceuticals.

At a press conference on Monday, Hunter praised Endo as a"responsible corporate citizen"  and alluded that thethree distributors, which previously paid millions ofdollars in fines to government authorities over their marketing ofopioids, should settle his lawsuit. He specifically referenced a$260 million settlement that the same three companies reached inOctober to settle similar claims brought by two Ohio counties.

"It's hard to overlook that as precedent," he said of the Ohiosettlement, which he called a "benchmark." He noted that the twoOhio counties have a population that is half that of the state ofOklahoma.

Hunter also is appealing the $475 million judgment, whichfollowed a $572 million bench verdict against Johnson & Johnsonand its subsidiary, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, in the only opioidtrial in the nation. In briefs filed last month, his office claimsthe judge should have extended the abatement plan beyond a year,while Johnson & Johnson laid out 39reasons why the Oklahoma Supreme Court should reversethe judgment, including the judge's interpretation of publicnuisance.

Unlike the case against Johnson & Johnson, Hunter's officeis not alleging public nuisance claims against the threedistributors. The lawsuit alleges negligence and unjust enrichmentand seeks an unspecified amount of compensatory and punitivedamages for past costs. It does not ask for an abatement plan goingforward.

The case against the distributors also focuses on the role thecompanies played in failing to report suspicious orders of opioidpills.

"We will show that these companies repeatedly ignored red flagsand, in doing so, played a major role in breaking the dam ofnarcotic conservatism when they flooded the country with opioids,"Hunter said at Monday's press conference. "Our lawsuit will showthese companies poured opioids into communities in the state whileignoring red flags and suspicious orders."

Like the case against Johnson & Johnson, Hunter's newlawsuit points to a correlation between the oversupply of opiatepharmaceuticals and the rising number of deaths in Oklahoma.According to Hunter's office, there were 479 prescriptions foropioids per hours in Oklahoma in 2017—enough for each adult in thestate to have 156 pills.

Nix Patterson and Whitten Burrage, which were involved in thetrial against Johnson & Johnson, assisted Hunter's office infiling the new lawsuit.

Read more: 

• Opioid manufacturers: A publicnuisance?
• The opioid crisis: How should employersrespond?
• Opioid prescriptions ebb but addiction, overdosesstill vex U.S.