SEATTLE – A Washington state judge has ordered Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary to pay $900 million, finding their pharmacies helped fuel the state’s opioid epidemic by failing to prevent the misuse and diversion of prescription painkillers.
King County Superior Court Judge Janet Helson awarded $800 million November 5 to address the epidemic’s harms and $100 million in civil penalties after a nine-week trial in a lawsuit filed by the state attorney general’s office in 2022. The judgment also includes fees and costs, the attorney general’s office said.
Albertsons said it disagreed with the decision and was considering an appeal.
“Albertsons Companies is disappointed by the court’s ruling and respectfully disagrees with its conclusions,” the company said in a statement. “We are reviewing the decision closely and will evaluate all available options, including appeal.”
Attorney General Nick Brown said the award was believed to be the largest judgment in Washington’s history.
Majestro
Among the attorneys representing the state were Anthony Majestro, Christina Smith and Graham Platz of Powell & Majestro from West Virginia as well as Jeff Gaddy and Peter Mougey of Levin Papantonio. Lawyers from the state attorney general’s office, Baron & Budd and McHugh Fuller Law Group also represented the state.
Majestro, who was among the attorneys who worked a similar suit in West Virginia, declined further comment.
Helson found Albertsons played a substantial role in causing the opioid crisis by failing to maintain adequate systems to identify suspicious prescriptions. The judge said its pharmacies filled prescriptions from “pill mill” doctors who were prescribing excessive quantities of opioids. More than 5.5 million pills were dispensed on prescriptions from five providers whose licenses were eventually suspended, she said.
Albertsons operates more than 200 pharmacies in Washington under the Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen names, according to the attorney general’s office. Between 2006 and 2022, its pharmacies dispensed more than 641 million opioid pills in the state.
The attorney general’s office said the pharmacies filled opioid prescriptions more than 6.5 million times despite warning signs of potential misuse or diversion, without documenting efforts to establish that the prescriptions served legitimate medical purposes. Pharmacists must identify, investigate and resolve those warning signs and document the process, the office said.
During closing arguments, the state contended that the companies failed to enforce their own policies for investigating suspicious prescriptions. Albertsons disputed those allegations, arguing that its pharmacies met or exceeded the applicable standard of care and that its conduct was not a substantial factor in causing Washington’s opioid crisis.
The state had sought $2.2 billion to address the epidemic’s harms, plus additional penalties. Helson awarded the smaller amount and said that if the $800 million award is overturned on appeal, the civil penalties would increase to about $340 million, Reuters reported.
The lawsuit, filed in December 2022 by then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson, accused Albertsons, Kroger and Rite Aid of illegally and negligently filling opioid prescriptions without adequately investigating warning signs of fraud or overprescribing. It alleged violations of Washington’s Consumer Protection Act and public nuisance law.
Kroger and Rite Aid left the case before trial through settlement or bankruptcy, leaving Albertsons and Safeway as the remaining defendants.
Ferguson announced a $47.5 million opioid settlement with Kroger in April 2024, with payments scheduled over 11 years and proceeds divided equally between the state and participating local governments. Rite Aid filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2023 amid mounting debt and opioid-related litigation.
Enu Mainigi of Williams & Connolly delivered opening arguments for Albertsons, whose defense team also included lawyers from Ogden Murphy Wallace and Greenberg Traurig.
