CVS Found Liable in Federal Case for Role in Opioid Crisis, Foulkes Refuses to Answer Questions

CVS Found Liable in Federal Case for Role in Opioid Crisis, Foulkes Refuses to Answer Questions

Jurors in a federal court case concluded that actions by the pharmacy chains CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens helped create a public nuisance that resulted in an oversupply of addictive pain pills and the diversion of those opioids to the black market.

Rhode Island Democratic candidate for Governor Helena Foulkes was the head of the pharmacy at CVS during a portion of the time in which the violations occurred. 

The verdict was confirmed by lawyers for the plaintiffs. The jury only assessed liability. It is up to U.S. District Judge Dan Polster to decide how much the companies must pay in Ohio's Lake and Trumbull Counties according to Reuters.

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Judge Polster has tentatively scheduled a trial on that question for May 9. The counties' lawyers have said the costs are potentially $1 billion for each county.

READ CVS' STATEMENT HERE

 

Foulkes' Role 

 

Foulkes earlier this month repeatedly refused to answer questions from GoLocal about her role as a top executive at CVS in the opioid crisis.

The New York Times reports that “the verdict — the first from a jury in an opioids case — may be encouraging to plaintiffs in thousands of lawsuits nationwide who are relying on the same legal strategy employed in this case, namely that pharmaceutical companies contributed to a “public nuisance” — a legal term that plaintiffs contend covers the public health crisis created by opioids.”

The argument was not victorious in earlier cases in California and Oklahoma.

But, CVS faces thousands of cases across the country, including in Kentucky where Attorney General Daniel Cameron filed a lawsuit in June against CVS Health for the company’s role in Kentucky’s opioid epidemic.

“CVS played a dual role in creating, fueling, and maintaining the opioid epidemic within Kentucky’s borders — (1) through their retail pharmacies, as dispensers of opioids to the public, and (2) as a wholesale distributor, taking and shipping orders to and from their own pharmacies. Occupying two links in the opioid supply chain, CVS was in a unique and superior position of knowledge with regard to the gross amount of opioids pumped into their stores and poured out onto the streets of Kentucky,” said Cameron.

This story was first published 11/23/21 3:03 PM It was updated at 11/24/21 at 6:09 AM