Dec 8 (Reuters) – A Florida judge on Monday declared a mistrial in a lawsuit that accused Walmart, CVS and Walgreens of flooding the state with opioids and raising costs for local hospitals.<\/p>\n
The trial began in Broward County Circuit Court in September, and jurors deliberated for 14 days before telling the judge they could not reach a unanimous verdict.<\/p>\n
Sign up here.<\/a><\/p>\n During the lengthy deliberations, one juror was dismissed from the case after a dispute with another juror. Broward County Chief Judge Carol-Lisa Philips had denied several of the pharmacy chains’ motions for a mistrial on Monday morning before the remaining eight jurors told her for a second time that they could not reach agreement later that day.<\/p>\n CVS in a statement on Monday said it was pleased that the jury did not accept the plaintiffs’ arguments. Walmart said the evidence presented at trial was “flimsy” and that the company was confident it would prevail when the case was re-tried. Walgreens declined to comment.<\/p>\n Plaintiffs’ attorney Warren Burns said he was disappointed with the result, but he looked forward to scheduling a new trial as soon as April.<\/p>\n SURGE IN OPIOID USE<\/p>\n Sixteen Florida hospitals, including Broward Health, Tampa General Hospital and Good Samaritan Medical Center, sued in 2019, accusing the pharmacy chains of violating Florida’s anti-racketeering law by working with drugmakers and distributors to drive up opioid sales. The hospitals say the surge in opioid use led to injuries they had to treat, often without being reimbursed.<\/p>\n Opioid addiction is an epidemic in the United States, and the health crisis has sparked thousands of lawsuits accusing drug companies of contributing to the problem by deceptively marketing opioid painkillers like Oxycontin as less addictive alternatives for pain treatment.<\/p>\n More than 800,000 people died from opioid overdoses<\/a> between 1999 and 2023, according to statistics from the Centers for Disease Control. That number includes both prescription medicine and illegal drugs, like fentanyl, which have accounted for an increasing proportion of overdoses and injuries in recent years.<\/p>\n The hospitals claimed the companies conspired to profit from soaring opioid prescriptions despite being keenly aware of the addiction risks. Between 2006 and 2018, the pharmacies dispensed more than 21 billion opioid pills in 15 Florida counties served by the hospitals \u2014 nearly 200 pills a year for every resident, according to the complaint. The hospitals say they racked up $528.3 million in unpaid bills for treating opioid-related injuries, and another $1.5 billion when patients with opioid-related conditions sought care for other issues.<\/p>\n Burns said in closing arguments that Reuters viewed on Courtroom View Network that patients’ opioid use complicated treatment and drove up costs even for patients admitted to the hospital for other reasons.<\/p>\n “Opioids have an impact on practically every system in your body,” Burns said. “Even when you’re coming in with a car accident, opioids can potentially complicate that care as well, because they can’t treat your pain.”<\/p>\n The pharmacy chains argued they sold legal medications prescribed by doctors and denied conspiring with drugmakers.<\/p>\n In his closing argument, Walmart attorney David Markus called the lawsuit \u201ca money grab,\u201d saying the hospitals\u2019 damages calculations included cases where bills were fully paid and even instances where the hospitals\u2019 own physicians prescribed opioids.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was no conspiracy,\u201d Markus told jurors.<\/p>\n The hospitals initially sued a wide range of opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies, but most other defendants reached nationwide settlements that resolved the hospitals’ opioid claims. Companies that made or sold opioid medications have committed over $50 billion to settlements<\/a>, including both the nationwide deals and separate agreements negotiated by individual states.<\/p>\n The case is Florida Health Sciences Center, North Broward Hospital District v. CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens; Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, No. 19-018882<\/p>\n Reporting by Dietrich Knauth<\/p>\n Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab<\/a><\/p>\n