CLEVELAND, Ohio — A federal judge in Cleveland will soon decide how much three pharmacy giants must pay Lake and Trumbull counties for their role in the opioid epidemic.
Testimony in the five-day trial in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster’s courtroom ended Tuesday. Attorneys did not give closing arguments, and they will instead file briefs to Polster before he makes his decision.
The proceedings on Tuesday capped the first trial in the nation that pitted counties against CVS, Walgreens and Walmart over the dispensing of painkillers. The trial is being watched as a bellwether case that will give other communities and companies an indication of evidence and an idea on how to proceed.
More than 3,000 cities and counties have sued pharmaceutical companies in attempts to hold the businesses accountable for a scourge that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans and addicted countless others since the late 1990s.
A jury in November found the pharmacies contributed to the opioid crisis and created a public nuisance. Lake and Trumbull counties are seeking a payout of about $875 million to launch programs that will help reverse the effects of it on residents.
The companies, however, say there were many contributing factors, including bad doctors who wrote excessive prescriptions and drug cartels who dealt massive amounts of heroin. The companies argued that they should pay just a fraction of the costs.
Following the trial last fall, attorneys returned to Polster’s courtroom to decide how much the companies must pay to remedy the situation.
In the second phase, each side put three witnesses on the stand; the counties’ attorneys called two epidemiologists and an economist. The pharmacies’ counsel called a certified public accountant and two professors who specialize in healthcare policy.
Most of the second phase of the trial featured the two sides fighting over whose experts had more accurate data on opioid abuse and its effects in the counties.
The most comprehensive government database on opioid prescriptions captures the years 2006 to 2012. In those years, more than 80 million opioid pills reached Trumbull County. More than 60 million were dispensed in Lake County, according to the data.
Trumbull County’s population is slightly under 200,000, while Lake County’s is about 230,000.
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