Washington state officials are celebrating a nearly billion dollar verdict issued by King County Superior Court Judge Janet Helson against national grocer Albertsons Companies for its role in fueling the opioid crisis.
In a news release, the Washington Attorney General's office said the judge ruled that “the company failed to prevent the misuse of opioids, significantly contributing to the crisis that continues to kill thousands of Washingtonians every year.”
Outside the King County Courthouse on Thursday, Attorney General Nick Brown briefed reporters about the victory against the national grocer.
“The judge issued a $900 million verdict against Albertsons, which we believe is the single largest verdict in Washington state history,” he said. “Importantly, the verdict today cannot undo the devastating harms of the opioid crisis, but it will provide desperately needed resources to prevent a future crisis like this.”
The case centered on prescription painkillers such as oxycodone. According to the attorney general’s office, since 1999, more than 26,000 people have died from opioid overdoses.
The attorney general’s office sued Albertsons for ignoring legal safeguards and failing to prevent the misuse of opioids. It estimates the company distributed more than 641 million opioid pills across the state between 2006 and 2022.
Albertsons is the parent company for stores such as Safeway and Haggen. Brown pointed to its practice of understaffing locations, ignoring safety procedures and repeatedly filling suspicious prescriptions.
“When other pharmacies cut off the chain of supply and Albertsons did not and they continued to prescribe millions and millions of pills for years, that was pretty compelling,” he said.
According to a news release from the attorney general’s office, Albertsons owns and operates hundreds of pharmacies across the state. Washington’s case against the grocer highlighted that many of the prescriptions they filled were flagged for potential misuse or being sold illegally.
The state’s attorneys argued that the company did not closely track its supply of opioids. In one case, an employee at a Safeway in North Bend was able to steal 70,000 pills over the course of two years. Brown said the weeks-long trial dove into the practices that helped drive the opioid epidemic.
“Albertsons’ policies incentivize prescription volume and sales over exercising appropriate levels of due diligence,” he said. “This was an extremely complex, multi-year case, and I'm so grateful to everyone and our team who worked on it, and immensely grateful for all of the witnesses that put their stories into the record to make sure that Albertsons was held accountable.”
Earlier this year, Albertsons had reached a $776 million settlement with state, local and tribal governments to help resolve “opioid-related litigation.” However, Washington state was not a part of this agreement. In a written statement, the company outlined that it is considering its options, including appealing the verdict.
“Albertsons Companies is disappointed by the court’s ruling and respectfully disagrees with its conclusions,” the company’s statement read. “We are proud of our pharmacists and their dedication to the patients and communities they serve, and we will continue to support our customers and communities across Washington through responsible pharmacy operations.”
According to Brown, his office is still looking over the judge’s decision, but he expects to have a clearer picture of how this $900 million can be used by the end of the year.
