SALT LAKE CITY — A judge has refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against three major pharmacy chains, accusing them of not doing enough to prevent Utah's opioid crisis.
During a hearing in Silver Summit's 3rd District Court on Monday, Judge Richard Mrazik declined a request by attorneys representing Rite-Aid and Kroger to throw out the lawsuit filed by the Utah Attorney General's Office.
"The state pleads a claim for public nuisance based upon the widespread failure to control diversion of prescription drugs that are known to be subject for abuse," Judge Mrazik said.
The state filed a lawsuit last year against Walgreens, Rite-Aid and Kroger (the parent company of Smith's), accusing them of exacerbating the opioid problem by not enacting enough controls over the drugs. The Utah Attorney General's Office has said the companies ignored "red flags," including patients traveling long distances to get prescriptions filled and paying for them in cash. The lawsuit claimed that one store in the community of Price had enough prescriptions purchased over seven years to provide 71 pills for each of their 8,216 residents. Walgreens was accused of bonusing corporate officers based on the speed and number of prescriptions filled.
"The misuse of opioids continue to be an existential threat to Utahns and Americans and we will continue to hold all of those who are responsible for creating this crisis responsible," Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said in brief comments about the lawsuit to FOX 13 News on Monday.
According to court documents obtained by FOX 13 News, Walgreens is currently in settlement negotiations with the Utah Attorney General's Office. Attorneys for Rite-Aid and Kroger argued for the lawsuit against them to be dismissed. They pushed back on Utah's claims that the pharmacy chains created a "public nuisance."
"I understand that there’s allegations of these alleged red flag prescriptions? But there’s no allegations we dispensed opioids without a prescription," Coleen Meehan, an attorney for Rite-Aid, told the judge.
Diana Jacobs, an attorney for Kroger, argued that there already were a number of laws on a federal and state level that regulated pharmacies and what they can distribute.
"The pharmacies were acting lawfully under the Utah state laws. They were being regulated," she said.
"Hold on," Judge Mrazik interjected. "The allegations are that they, in fact, were not. That they were acting unlawfully in failing to respond appropriately to 'red flag' prescriptions. Whether or not the state can prove those allegations to be true to the trier of fact? That’s for another day. But they squarely allege that."
The judge allowed the lawsuit to proceed to trial.
