VIDEO: CVS Health and Walmart Agree to Pay West Virginia $147.5 Million for Role in Opioid Crisis
Thursday, September 22, 2022
CVS Health and Walmart have agreed to pay $147.5 million to settle West Virginia's claims over their alleged roles in the state's opioid crisis, announced state attorney general Patrick Morrisey.
West Virginia had been prepared to proceed to trial on September 26 against those two companies and Walgreens.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThe state had accused the pharmacy chains of fueling the deadly opioid epidemic through their allegedly lax oversight of prescription pills sold in the state.
Walgreens has not settled, and a trial has been rescheduled for June 2023.
"We believe that we have a very strong case against Walgreens," Morrisey said at a news conference. "We're going to pursue that quite vigorously."
The state has been particularly hard hit by the epidemic, with a per capita opioid mortality rate over three times the national average in 2020, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
CVS Health agreed to pay the state of Florida $484 million to settle claims related to opioid prescriptions at its pharmacies.
The settlement will resolve claims dating back more than a decade, according to the announcement from CVS. The settlement amount will be paid over the course of 18 years.
CVS Faces Lawsuits Across the Country
This past August, Federal Judge Dan A. Polster of Northern Ohio ordered the three companies to pay $650.5 million to two Ohio counties, ruling that the companies must be held accountable for their part in fueling the opioid epidemic.
In 2021, Attorney General of Kentucky Daniel Cameron filed suit against CVS and so on and so on. CVS settled with Florida.
“During the height of the opioid epidemic, CVS allowed millions of dosage units of opioids to flood Kentucky’s borders, fueling the crisis and devastating thousands of families and communities across the Commonwealth,” said Cameron. “As both distributor and pharmacy, CVS was in a unique position to monitor and stop the peddling of these highly-addictive drugs from their stores, yet they ignored their own safeguard systems. By bringing this lawsuit on behalf of the people of Kentucky, we are holding CVS accountable for these decisions and for contributing to a man-made crisis that tragically led to the loss of life of thousands of Kentuckians.”
New Hampshire has also filed suit. Attorney General John Formella said, "For decades now, these companies have watched pain pills that they are distributing and dispensing cause extreme harm and deaths. During the height of the opioid epidemic, these pharmacies allowed millions of dosage units of opioids to flood New Hampshire, devastating thousands of families and communities across the Granite State."
"As both drug distributors and the operators of chain pharmacy locations, these companies were in a unique position to more closely monitor the flow of these highly addictive drugs from their stores. By bringing this lawsuit, we are attempting to hold them accountable for contributing to a crisis they helped create and that tragically led to the loss of life for thousands of people throughout New Hampshire," he continued.
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