A federal judge in Cleveland on Wednesday awarded two Ohio counties $650 million in damages for causing public nuisance and pollution.
U.S. District Judge Dan Pollster said in his ruling that the funds would be used to mitigate the ongoing opioid crisis in the Cleveland suburbs of Lake and Trumbull counties. He estimates the total damage done to the county at $3.3 billion.
Lake County expects him to receive $306 million over 15 years. Trumbull County expects her to receive $344 million over the same period. Polster immediately ordered the company to pay about $87 million to cover his first two years of the curtailment plan.
Polster said in its ruling that it "wasted an opportunity to present a meaningful plan to mitigate nuisance" after a trial that considered the damages the three companies could incur.
CVS, Walmart and Walgreens said they would appeal the ruling. It's unclear if the two companies will have to pay nearly $87 million immediately while they're on appeal.
Trumbull County Commissioner Frank Hooda praised the award in a statement, saying it has enabled them to address "the damage caused by this devastating epidemic."
Lake County Commissioner John Hammercheck said in a statement:
A jury returned a verdict in favor of the county in November after a six-week trial. It then fell to Polster to determine how much money the county would receive from his three pharmacy companies. He heard testimony in May to determine damages.
The county convinced jurors that pharmacies played a very large role in creating public nuisance in the way they dispensed pain relievers to communities.
} It was the first time a pharmacy company had completed a trial to defend itself in the drug crisis that has killed half a million Americans since 1999.
Lawyers at pharmacy chains stop the flow of pills when pharmacists become concerned and notify authorities of questionable orders from doctors. It said doctors, not pharmacies, controlled the number of pills taken. The judgment followed a trial designed to favor plaintiffs' attorneys and was riddled with startling legal and factual errors."
Walgreens Spokesperson Parson Fraser Engerman said, "Facts and law do not support the jury's verdict last fall, nor do they support the current court decision.
The case was brought before the jury with a flawed legal theory that was inconsistent with Ohio law, and compounded those errors when reaching an award for damages."
CVS spokesman Michael DeAngelis said:
CVS has offices in Walgreens, Rhode Island, Illinois, and Walmart, Arkansas.
Two Chains — Rite Aid
County Attorney Mark Lanier said during the trial that pharmacies were trying to blame everyone, but
In Ohio's blue collar neighborhoods east of Operation Cleveland, the iodine crisis has overwhelmed courts, social services and law enforcement, leaving babies born to grief-stricken families and addicted mothers behind. , Mr. Lanier told the jury.
Between 2012 and 2016, approximately 80 million prescription pain relievers were dispensed in Trumbull County alone. This equates to 400 per inhabitant. In Lake County, he distributed 61 million tablets during this period.
The rise in doctors prescribing pain relievers such as oxycodone and hydrocodone is due to medical groups beginning to recognize that patients have a right to pain treatment, said a Walgreens attorney. One Kaspar Stoffelmayr said at the beginning of the trial.
The problem, he said, was that "pharmaceutical companies tricked doctors into writing too many pills."
The county said pharmacies should be the last line of defense to keep drugs from falling into the wrong hands. It was part of a broader set of approximately 3,000 federal opioid lawsuits consolidated under scrutiny. Other lawsuits are pending in state court.
Kevin Roy, chief public policy officer at Shatterproof, an organization that advocates for addiction solutions, said in November that the ruling led to a nationwide settlement for pharmacies and major distributors. He said it could follow the same path as corporations and some pharmaceutical companies. Billions of dollars worth of opioid cases. So far, no pharmacy has reached a nationwide settlement.
Also on Wednesday, many state attorneys general said that Endo International and he had been working for 10 years to settle allegations that Endo International used deceptive marketing techniques that downplayed the risks of addiction. announced that he had agreed to pay $450 million.
Based in Ireland, Endo's US headquarters are in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The company didn't respond to a call or email seeking comment Wednesday.
The agreement calls for the distribution of $450 million to participating states and communities. It is also asking Endo to make the opioid-related documents publicly available online and for him to pay $2.75 million for the public archiving of these documents.
According to the agreement, Endo can never sell opioids again.
The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday night.
Endo manufactures generic his opioids and makes name brands such as Percocet and Endocet. The company's Opana ER opioid was withdrawn from the market in 2017. The attorney general says Endo "misrepresented the benefits" of his Opana ER "so-called anti-abuse formulation." The Attorney General said prescriptions did not deter drug abuse and that people injected drugs, resulting in deadly outbreaks of hepatitis and HIV.