Walgreens Boots Alliance agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico to settle claims that its pharmacies helped fuel opioid addiction in the state by failing to stop illegal pill sales, lawyers for the state announced on Friday.
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The attorneys at Baron & Budd, with shareholders Daniel Alberstone and Mark Pifko serving as co-lead counsel along with Peter Mougey and Jeff Gaddy from Levin, Papantonio, Rafferty; Anthony Majestro from Powell & Majestro; and Luis Robles of Robles Rael Anaya, announced a record $500 million settlement agreement with pharmaceutical giant Walgreens concerning the company’s role in the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the State of New Mexico.
This Walgreens settlement in New Mexico is one of the largest separate settlements obtained from a single opioid defendant in the country and the largest settlement obtained from a single defendant by the attorney general in the State’s history.
Baron & Budd represented the State of New Mexico during a two-month bench trial, where it was argued that Walgreens failed in its “corresponding responsibility,†a duty under state and federal law requiring pharmacies to recognize suspicious, red flag prescriptions, and refuse to fill them if they are not issued for a legitimate medical purpose. As a result, Walgreens dispensed millions of potentially harmful opioids into communities across New Mexico.
The settlement requires Walgreens to pay for abatement of the opioid epidemic created by the oversupply of prescription opioids into the State. The financial burden caused by the influx of opioids in New Mexico has increased the costs of medical care, treatment, rehabilitation, law enforcement and childcare.
Retail pharmacies, such as Walgreens, are required under federal and state law to refuse to fill opioid prescriptions with red flags indicating that the drugs may not be for a legitimate medical purpose, unless the red flags can be resolved. Additionally, when they distribute opioids through their own distribution network, pharmacies like Walgreens are required to monitor, detect, investigate, and report suspicious opioid orders. ■