US District Judge Dan Aaron Polster dominated that over the following 15 years, roughly $306.2 million will have to be paid to Lake County and roughly $344.4 million will have to be paid to Trumbull County.
All 3 corporations had been discovered responsible for their position within the opioid epidemic in each Lake and Trumbull counties closing November. Polster presided over separate complaints in May to resolve how much cash must be awarded.
The lawsuit, which was once to begin with filed in 2018, was once a part of the federal multi-district litigation created that yr to deal with the manifold claims towards opioid producers and vendors.
The counties alleged that the pharmacies “abused their position of special trust and responsibility” as registered dispensers of managed medication, and in so doing “fostered a black market for prescription opioids,” the criticism reads.
Polster wrote in his ruling that the awarded damages are supposed to “address a small piece of a terrible and tenacious and escalating national tragedy.”
“Even if the Court could wave a magic wand and forever remove any existing or future oversupply of legal prescription opioids, and prevent all future diversion of legal prescription opioids into the illicit market, this conjuring would do nothing to reduce the nuisance that would continue to exist in Lake and Trumbull Counties — that is, the widespread prevalence of OUD [opioid use disorder] and opioid addiction,” Polster wrote.
“The facts and the law did not support the jury verdict last fall, and they do not support the court’s decision now,” Fraser Engerman, senior director of exterior members of the family for Walgreens, mentioned in a commentary. “As we have said throughout this process, we never manufactured or marketed opioids nor did we distribute them to the ‘pill mills’ and internet pharmacies that fueled this crisis.”
Walmart launched a commentary pronouncing the plaintiffs within the case “sued Walmart in search of deep pockets” and claimed the trial “was engineered to favor the plaintiffs’ attorneys and was riddled with remarkable legal and factual mistakes.”
“Instead of addressing the real causes of the opioid crisis, like pill mill doctors, illegal drugs and regulators asleep at the switch, plaintiffs’ lawyers wrongly claimed that pharmacists must second-guess doctors in a way the law never intended and many federal and state health regulators say interferes with the doctor-patient relationship,” the commentary reads.
A consultant for CVS mentioned Polster’s ruling is a “misapplication” of the regulation.
“We strongly disagree with the Court’s decision regarding the counties’ abatement plan, as well as last fall’s underlying verdict. Pharmacists fill legal prescriptions written by DEA-licensed doctors who prescribe legal, FDA-approved substances to treat actual patients in need,” Mike DeAngelis, government director of company communications for CVS Health, mentioned.
Local leaders in Trumbull and Lake Counties, then again, lauded the ruling and mentioned the damages will cross towards opioid abatement measures.
Mauro Cantalamessa, Trumbull County commissioner, instructed CNN that the county hopes Wednesday’s ruling “will signal the beginning of the long road to recovery for the people of Trumbull County.”
“For years, the dedicated frontline workers of Trumbull County have fought to address the harms of the opioid crisis. Through their experience and our efforts in this litigation, we know which mitigation strategies are effective in preventing further damage to our community. The news today means that we will soon have the long-awaited resources necessary to extend aid to properly address the harms caused by this devastating epidemic,” Cantalamessa mentioned.
Lake County Commissioner John Plecnik mentioned his county is making an investment the $306.2 million awarded to them into tackling the affects of the opioid disaster of their communities.
“I am grateful to the Court for recognizing the Opioid Epidemic as a public health crisis. This decision holds Big Pharma accountable for the great harm and lives lost due to the overselling of Opioids,” Plecnik mentioned “We hope the legal precedent that Lake and Trumbull Counties have won together will set the stage for the rest of the nation and help end the Opioid epidemic.”
— CNN’s Toby Lyles and Evan Simko-Bednarski contributed to this file.