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A federal jury in Cleveland ruled Tuesday that three of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains – CVS Health, Walmart and Walgreens, contributed substantially to the opioid overdose crisis and deaths in two Ohio counties .
It is the first time that a court ruling has held the retail segment of the pharmaceutical industry responsible for a decades-long epidemic.
The judge first instance will determine how much each company could pay the counties, after hearings not yet scheduled.
New federal data released last week shows that deaths from overdose of Illegal opioids such as heroin and street fentanyl have reached record levels during the pandemic .
The verdict, the first of a jury in u n opioid case, it can be encouraging for plaintiffs in thousands of legal proceedings across the country that are based on the same legal strategy employed in this case.
That is, pharmaceutical companies contributed to a “public nuisance,” a term that encompasses the public health crisis created by opioids , the plaintiffs argue.
That same argument was rejected twice this month, by judges in California and Oklahoma in cases against opioid manufacturers, who ruled that the companies’ activities were too far removed from overdoses and deaths, and that this enforcement of the public nuisance law had been extended beyond recognition.
But in this case, brought by Lake and Trumbull counties in Northeast Ohio, attorneys used legal theory successfully, arguing that for years, the pharmacies did They turned a blind eye to countless red flags about suspected opioid orders .
This lack of oversight occurred, both at the local patient desk and at their corporate headquarters, the requirements of which were, according to Mark Lanier, the counties’ lead trial attorney, “Too little, too late.”
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