I have always wondered how some of these settlements with Pharmas, Drug Wholesalers and pharmacies – especially chain pharmacies, came to the conclusion(s) that they did. All of these corporations are licensed by the DEA and the state pharmacy boards, to legally be able to buy/sell controlled substances. Both the pharma and the drug wholesaler only knows that they are selling controlled substances to a properly licensed entity. They have no idea who is – or anything about – the patient who will receive the medication(s). The chain pharmacy and their employee pharmacist are only providing a controlled med to a patient based on a prescription written by a properly licensed prescriber. The Pharmacist has the final decision to fill or not fill – based on some very limited medical information on the patient. A PDMP report and maybe a single ICD-10 provided by the prescriber.
After what I have seen over the last few years in what some in our judicial system has done, IMO parts of our legal system and those who work in our system and common sense doesn’t always share the same space at the same time.
Ohio Supreme Court delivers win to CVS, Walgreens, Walmart in national opioid case
Court said that big chain pharmacies could not be sued and held liable under Ohio’s public nuisance law for their role in the opioid addiction crisis.
The Ohio Supreme Court said on Tuesday that big chain pharmacies could not be sued and held liable under Ohio’s public nuisance law for their role in the national opioid addiction crisis.
Instead, the Ohio Product Liability Act trumps the nuisance law for a case like this, the court found. Local governments would have to follow procedures in that law in their claims against national pharmacy chains.
That means a $650.9 million win in federal court for Trumbull and Lake counties is in jeopardy and it delivers a big win for CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. It also likely will influence cases against the pharmaceutical industry pending in other states.
More than 3,000 lawsuits against makers, distributors and sellers of prescription painkillers were consolidated in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. The National Prescription Opiate Litigation is a massive legal fight over how much money cities, counties and tribal authorities may get to fight the opioid addiction crisis.
The court scheduled 11 “bellwether” trials, including one involving Lake and Trumbull counties against three pharmacy chains.
In November 2021, a jury in federal court found the pharmacy chains liable for creating a public nuisance in Lake and Trumbull counties.
In August 2022, U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster crafted an “abatement plan” that called for the pharmacy chains paying $650.9 million to the two counties to address the opioid addiction crisis. The money is “equitable relief” − not compensatory damages.
The pharmacies, though, appealed the decision to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, arguing that the Ohio Product Liability Act blocked the counties from making a public nuisance claim.
The federal court hit the pause button on the case until the Supreme Court weighed in on the question.
In a 5-2 ruling Tuesday, the Supreme Court said that the Ohio Product Liability Act is the law that addresses public nuisance claims. That law allows for compensatory damages, not equitable relief.
In a dissent, Justices Melody Stewart and Michael Donnelly said that the counties didn’t seek compensatory damages so the product liability law doesn’t apply.
Lawmakers updated the product liability law in 2005 and 2007 to after a public nuisance lawsuit against gun manufacturers.
Filed under: General Problems
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