Walgreens has sued 25 insurance companies, claiming they have wrongly reneged on their responsibilities to help the retail pharmacy giant defend against more than 2,500 lawsuits accusing the retailer of playing a role in perpetuating the so-called opioid crisis across the country, potentially with with more than $1 billion on the line.
On May 5, Deerfield-based Walgreen Co. filed suit in Cook County Circuit Court.
Defendants named in the action include subsidiaries of insurance giants AIG, Berkshire Hathaway, Liberty Mutual and Great American Insurance Company, among others.
The lawsuit centers on legal peril Walgreens faces in court, as thousands of lawsuits continue against the retailer in connection with Walgreens role as a pharmacist dispensing so-called opioid painkillers.
According to the complaint, Walgreens has been named as a defendant in more than 2,500 lawsuits filed in state and federal courts across the country. The bulk of the lawsuits have been filed by local governments, seeking billions of dollars in payment for the harm they alleged have been caused to communities and government budgets by the after-effects of the “public health epidemic” allegedly caused by the alleged overuse of opioid painkiller pills nationwide.
Walgreens notes the lawsuits generally “claim that the oversupply of prescription opioids led to an epidemic of addiction, abuse, sickness and death in their communities for which they had to foot the bill by providing services and care.”
Some of the lawsuits specifically argued Walgreens and other pharmacy defendants should be made to pay for allegedly breaching “their duties to maintain effective controls against diversion of opioids.”
Walgreens was included in the lawsuits along with a litany of other defendants, including pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors, physicians who prescribed the pills, and other pharmacies that filled the prescriptions.
To date, Walgreens estimates it has paid more than $150 million in legal fees defending against those lawsuits.
While Walgreens says it continues to deny the allegations in the lawsuits, the company has begun to settle with some of the plaintiffs.
Most recently, at the beginning of May, Walgreens agreed to pay $683 million to settle the lawsuit brought by the state of Florida. In July 2021, Walgreens settled with the New York counties of Suffolk and Nassau for $10 million.
This month, Walgreens will head back to court over the question of how much the retailer owes the counties of Lake and Trumbull, Ohio. A jury found against Walgreens at trial in 2021.
A host of other opioid-related actions also remaining pending against Walgreens.
In all, Walgreens estimates it may face more than $1 billion in settlements and judgments from the opioid lawsuits.
In its lawsuit against the insurers, Walgreens asserts it should not be forced to bear these costs alone.
The pharmacy chain says it holds various insurance policies worth “hundreds of millions of dollars” with the 25 defendant companies. But Walgreens says the insurers have wrongly denied the retailer’s claim for coverage and indemnification against the opioid lawsuits.
The lawsuit particularly takes aim at AIG, as Walgreens’ principal insurer. The lawsuit includes a claim for breach of contract against AIG.
Walgreens is asking the court to order AIG to pay Walgreens’ legal defense costs, and pay a portion of the settlements reached in Florida and New York.
As for the other insurers, designated as Walgreens’ “excess insurers,” Walgreens says the court should order them to “acknowledge their respective duties and … pay in full any of Walgreens legal liabilities or defense costs … including any settlements and/or judgments, upon exhaustion of the applicable underlying insurance.”
Named defendants include: Ace American Insurance Company; AIG Excess Liability Insurance; Aspen Insurance UK Limited; Berkshire Hathaway International Insurance; Endurance American Insurance Company; Federal Insurance Company; Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company; Gerling-Konzern General Insurance Company; Great American Assurance Company; Great American Insurance Company; Illinois National Insurance Company; Ironshore Insurance Limited; Lexington Insurance Company; Liberty Mutual; National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh; North American Specialty Insurance Company; The Ohio Casualty Company; St. Paul Fire & Marine Insurance Company; Starr Indemnity & Liability Co.; TIG Insurance Company; and XL Insurance Company, among others.