© David Paulo Morris/Bloomberg/Getty ImagesWalgreens in San Francisco
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said in his ruling that the money will be used to the fight the opioid crisis in Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland. Attorneys for the counties put the total price tag at $3.3 billion for the damage done.
The judge admonished the three companies, saying they "squandered the opportunity to present a meaningful plan to abate the nuisance" after proceedings last spring to determine what the counties were owed.
Lake County is to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County is to receive $344 million over the same period. Polster ordered the companies to immediately fork over nearly $87 million to cover the first two years of payments, but it was unclear whether they had to pay that money during their appeals.
"Today marks the start of a new day in our fight to end the opioid epidemic," Lake County Commissioner John Hamercheck said in a statement.
A jury in November returned a verdict in favor of the counties after a six-week trial. It was then left to the judge to decide how much the counties should receive. He heard testimony in May to determine damages.
The counties convinced the jury that the pharmacies played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain medication.
It was the first time pharmacy companies completed a trial to defend themselves in a drug crisis that has killed a half-million Americans since 1999.
The decision on damages came on the same day that attorneys general from numerous states announced they had reached an agreement with opioid maker Endo International to pay as much as $450 million over 10 years. The payments settle allegations the company used deceptive marketing practices "that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits" of opioids.
Attorneys for the pharmacy chains insisted they had policies to stem the flow of pills when pharmacists voiced concerns and would notify authorities about suspicious orders from doctors. They also said it was doctors who controlled how many pills were prescribed for legitimate medical needs, not pharmacies.
Walmart issued a statement Wednesday saying the counties
"sued Walmart in search of deep pockets, and this judgment follows a trial that was engineered to favor the plaintiffs' attorneys and was riddled with remarkable legal and factual mistakes."Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said:
"The facts and the law did not support the jury verdict last fall, and they do not support the court's decision now. The court committed significant legal errors in allowing the case to go before a jury on a flawed legal theory that is inconsistent with Ohio law and compounded those errors in reaching its ruling regarding damages."CVS spokesperson Michael DeAngelis said the company strongly disagreed with the court's decision on damages as well as the underlying verdict.
CVS is based in Rhode Island, Walgreens in Illinois and Walmart in Arkansas.
Reader Comments