Walgreens has agreed to pay $230 million to settle a case brought by the city of San Francisco over the opioid crisis.
The settlement, announced Wednesday, comes months after a bank ruling in the case against Walgreens. Attorneys for the city of San Francisco had asked US District Judge Charles Breyer of the Northern District of California for $8.1 billion in damages – an amount that Walgreens called “completely excessive” – but both sides held back initiate a compensation process settlement talks.
Prosecutor David Chiu said at a news conference Wednesday that San Francisco received more than $350 million from opioid defendants including the Walgreens settlement.
“They were more concerned with profit than compliance with their legal obligations,” Chiu said. “There is no amount of money that can bring back the lives we have lost to this epidemic. But the only thing we can do as lawyers is fight for justice and make sure those who do harm are held accountable.”
Other opioid companies that have reached an agreement with the City of San Francisco include manufacturing companies Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Allergan of AbbVie Inc., both of whom walked out of the San Francisco trial for $54 million, and Endo Health Solutions, which paid $10 million in the previous trial.
In a statement, Walgreens denied liability and said there was no fault as against.
“We have not manufactured or marketed opioids, nor have we distributed them to ‘pill factories’ and internet pharmacies,” the statement said. “The comparison allows us to focus on our mission to transform healthcare and the well-being of our patients, customers and communities.”
“Above the Waterline”
Attorneys for the San Francisco Attorney’s Office hired seven outside law firms in the case, including Assistant Trial Attorney Richard Heimann of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein in San Francisco; Aelish Baig, San Francisco partner at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd; Jayne Conroy from Simmons Hanly Conroy of New York; and Peter Mougey of Levin Papantonio Rafferty Proctor Buchanan O’Brien Barr Mougey in Pensacola, Florida.
“You were the outstanding face of this case,” Lieff Cabraser’s Elizabeth Cabraser said of the outside legal team at Wednesday’s news conference. “We won a litigation victory, the first of its kind, in opioid litigation nationally, and it enabled us to negotiate a settlement that will bring much-needed funds and resources to San Francisco faster and faster than the national settlements.”
Elizabeth Cabraser, Lieff, Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)
Last year, Walgreens agreed to pay around $5 billion to several states and Native American tribes that had opioid lawsuits.
Walgreens is one of several dispensaries targeted for their role in providing excessive amounts of opioids, which are prescription pain relievers, in communities. Breyer, of the Northern County of California, found in his Aug. 10 court ruling that Walgreens had failed federal opioid prescription due diligence requirements for 15 years, leading to illegal drug use in San Francisco.
The lawsuit is one of many for Walgreens. In one of the first landmark lawsuits, a Cleveland jury returned verdicts in 2021 against Walgreens, Walmart and CVS and for two counties in Ohio, Trumbull County and Lake County. Last year, the three pharmacies appealed a $650 million damages claim that, if extrapolated across all opioid cases, would cost them nearly $500 billion in public health costs. The US Circuit Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has not yet scheduled hearings in this case.
Last year, Walgreens settled a case against the state of New Mexico and paid $683 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Florida.
Minnesota: “A Clear Message”
Separately, Attorney General Keith Ellison on Wednesday announced the value of Minnesota’s previously announced settlement with Juul and Altria: $60.5 million.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison speaks at the University of Miami School of Law. Photo: Jenny Abreu
The settlement, which includes $8.6 million in legal fees and attorney fees, including for outside attorneys Robins Kaplan and Zimmerman Reed, is the largest per capita of any of the 48 states and U.S. territories that make up the Minnesota Attorney General, according to the Minnesota Attorney General have agreed with Juul office. Under the terms of the agreement, both companies will make payments over a period of eight years, starting at $22.75 million over 30 days.
Juul last year paid an estimated $1.7 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits brought by cities, counties, Native American tribes, school districts and states over its electronic cigarettes. Juul also agreed last month to pay $462 million to six states and the District of Columbia.
Altria, which owns a 35% stake in Juul, settled $235 million in a lawsuit against the San Francisco Unified School District this month. The comparison excludes cases from the states of Hawaii, Alaska and New Mexico.
The state of Minnesota began the state’s first trial over Juul’s e-cigarettes on March 28, but settled a confidential sum just before jury deliberations began last month.
“As we did in the Big Tobacco litigation 25 years ago, Minnesotans have again demonstrated their leadership by being the first and so far only state in the country to bring Juul and Altria to justice,” Ellison said. “This settlement, which is the largest of its kind in the country, also sends a clear message: We will not tolerate the marketing of nicotine products to children and adolescents in Minnesota and will hold you accountable if you do so.”
