CVS, Walmart and Walgreens must pay $650 million to alleviate the opioid crisis in two Ohio counties, a judge has ruled.
Wednesday's order, by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster of the Northern District of Ohio, provides an abatement program to Trumbull County and Lake County, which won a jury verdict on Nov. 23 that found all three pharmacies had created a public nuisance. Polster, who said he would appoint an administrator to oversee the funds, heard arguments from both sides earlier this year on how much the pharmacies should pay to the counties.
"In the end, neither party adequately put forth a reasonable plan the court could adopt wholesale and would be upheld," Polster writes. "Because defendants failed to offer their own, realistic abatement plan, the court's only real choice is to adopt in large part plaintiffs' proposed abatement plan. However, the court is not blind to the fact that plaintiffs' plan asks for too much."
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Amanda Bronstad
Amanda Bronstad is the ALM staff reporter covering class actions and mass torts nationwide. She writes the email dispatch Law.com Class Actions: Critical Mass. She is based in Los Angeles.
