Key facts
- King County Superior Court Judge Janet Helson ordered Albertsons to pay Washington $900 million after a non-jury trial.
- The state alleged Albertsons pharmacies filled prescriptions with red flags more than 6.5 million times from 2006 to 2022.
- Washington sought $2.2 billion at trial to abate harms and additional penalties; the judge awarded $900 million.
- Albertsons denied wrongdoing, saying its pharmacies sold legal drugs prescribed by doctors.
- Albertsons operates 200 pharmacies in Washington, mostly under its Safeway brand.
- Nationwide opioid settlements total roughly $58 billion, the report said.
King County Superior Court Judge Janet Helson in Seattle ruled on Thursday that Albertsons must pay Washington state $900 million for helping fuel an opioid epidemic by failing through its pharmacies to prevent misuse of addictive painkillers. The decision followed a non-jury trial in a lawsuit the state's attorney general filed against the grocery retailer in 2022.
Washington opted not to join a nationwide settlement and continued its lawsuit, seeking a finding that Albertsons created a public nuisance and violated the state's consumer protection law. At trial the state asked Helson to order $2.2 billion to address, or abate, the harms and to require additional penalties. The state alleged Albertsons pharmacies from 2006 to 2022 unlawfully filled prescriptions for opioids more than 6.5 million times that had red flags signaling they could be diverted for illicit use. Albertsons operates 200 pharmacies in Washington, mostly under its Safeway brand.
Albertsons denied wrongdoing. Its lawyers said the company sold legal drugs prescribed by doctors and that pharmacists were not tasked with questioning a doctor's judgment unless there was real reason to suspect a prescription was illegitimate. The state said more than 26,000 Washingtonians have died from an opioid overdose during the epidemic. Nationwide opioid settlements now total roughly $58 billion, and Albertsons in April announced a $774 million settlement to resolve most cases against it nationwide.