By MARK GILLISPIE Associated Press
CLEVELAND (AP) — Retail pharmacy chains contributed to a deadly and expensive public nuisance in two Ohio counties where the opioid crisis continues to rage, an attorney for the counties said in an opening statement Monday in federal court in Cleveland.
It was the first day of trial in the lawsuit filed in 2018 by Lake and Trumbull counties outside Cleveland against retail pharmacy companies CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle.
“They’re going to say, ‘We’re not any part of the problem,’” attorney Mark Lanier said. “They’re going to blame everyone but themselves.”
The cost of abating the crisis is $1 billion each for each county, one of their attorneys has said. Around 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County between 2012 and 2016 — 400 for every county resident — while 61 million pills were dispensed in Lake County during that five-year period — 265 pills for every resident.
This is the first time pharmacy companies have gone to trial to defend themselves. The trial, which is expected to last around six weeks, could set the tone for similar claims against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over the trial. Close to 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal courts have been consolidated under Polster’s supervision.
Attorneys for the four pharmacy chains have argued the companies didn’t manufacture the drugs and that their pharmacies were filling prescriptions written by physicians for patients with a legitimate medical need.
“Pharmacists fill the prescriptions, they don’t tell doctors what to prescribe,” Kaspar Stoffelmayr, an attorney for Walgreens, said in an opening statement.
The rise in physicians prescribing pain medications such as oxycodone and hydrocodone coincided with recognition by medical groups that patients have the right to be treated for pain, Stoffelmayr said.
The problem, he said, was that “pharmaceutical manufacturers tricked doctors into writing way too many pills.”
Lanier, in laying out the counties’ case, said the companies to save money did not not hire enough pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to prevent the diversion of pain pills. He said the companies failed to implement effective systems to flag suspicious orders or to train pharmacists and give them the tools they need to prevent the illegal diversion of pain pills.
“They are the last line of defense to prevent diversion because these are people who are putting the medicine on the street,” Lanier said.
Lanier told jurors about the interstate pipeline that people from Ohio and other states traveled to buy pain pills from doctors who ran unscrupulous pill mills. He said the opioid crisis, which has lead to more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the last two decades, has been costly for Lake and Trumbull counties in terms of how it affects babies born to addicted mothers, the courts and law enforcement.
Attorneys for CVS, Walmart and Giant Eagle are expected to give opening statements on Tuesday morning with the counties putting on their first witness, a CVS employee, later in the day.
Rite-Aid settled with the Lake and Trumbull two counties in August. The company paid Trumbull County $1.5 million. The amount paid to Lake County has not been disclosed.
The trial will be the fourth in the U.S. this year to test claims brought by governments against part of the drug industry over the toll of prescription painkillers. Verdicts or judgments have not been reached in the others thus far.
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This story was first published on October 4, 2021. It was updated on October 5, 2021, to correct the spelling of Stoffelmayr’s first name to Kaspar, instead of Casper.
Attorneys: Pharmacy companies blameless for opioid crisis
Lake and Trumbull counties have sued CVS, Walgreens, Walmart and Giant Eagle in federal court in Cleveland claiming the companies created a public nuisance by dispensing pain pills that were diverted for illegal use. The cost of abating the crisis for each county is around $1 billion, their attorneys contend.
Attorneys for CVS, Walmart and Giant Eagle gave their opening statements Tuesday. Attorneys for Walgreens and the counties gave theirs on Monday.
CVS attorney Eric Delinsky told the jury the counties are not claiming that someone has been hurt in the counties, but that the companies’ pharmacies engaged in conduct “so widespread that they are interfering with the rights of the entire public at large.”
“Absolutely not,” Delinsky said. “This case is about today. The public nuisance has to exist today, not something CVS did seven years ago.”
CVS is in the business of filling prescriptions written by physicians for legitimate medical needs, Delinsky and the other company attorneys have argued.
“The big pictures is: CVS is not the substantial cause of a public nuisance,” Delinsky said.
Diane Sullivan, an attorney for the Pittsburgh-based Giant Eagle grocery chain, said the allegations made by the companies are causing reputational harm to the company and its pharmacists.
“These are very personal attacks,” Sullivan said. “In this country it’s easy to file lawsuits, to say all kinds of things, to make all kinds of allegations, to throw mud to win a lawsuit.”
Sullivan referred to Monday’s opening statement by one of the counties’ attorneys, Mark Lanier, which included props such as a gumball machine. Lanier spent little time laying out how the counties have been harmed during that statement.
“Where was the evidence?” Sullivan asked. “Where did he talk about any evidence these pharmacists dispensed medicine that is on the street? There’s going to be a shocking lack of proof in this case.”
This is the first time pharmacy companies have gone to trial to defend themselves. The trial, which is expected to last around six weeks, could set the tone for similar claims against retail pharmacy chains by government entities across the U.S.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over the trial. Close to 3,000 lawsuits filed in federal courts have been consolidated under Polster’s supervision.
Rite-Aid settled with the Lake and Trumbull counties in August. The company paid Trumbull County $1.5 million. The amount paid to Lake County has not been disclosed.
The trial will be the fourth in the U.S. this year to test claims brought by governments against part of the drug industry over the toll of prescription painkillers. Verdicts or judgments have not been reached in the others thus far.