Napoli Shkolnik Clients Lake and Trumbull Counties Awarded $650 Million from Defendants CVS, Walgreens and Walmart

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Napoli Shkolnik, one of the nation’s leading firms litigating against the national pharmaceutical companies that fueled the opioid crisis, praised Judge Dan Aaron Polster of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio today. Judge Polster ruled that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart must pay over $650 million over 15 years and set up an abatement program for Lake and Trumbull counties. The funds will be used in programs to address the fallout from opioid abuse their marketing of opioids caused.

“We hope the Defendants accept this order so people can get the help they need to rebuild their lives and the communities that suffered so greatly during the opioid crisis,” said Napoli Shkolnik Partner Salvatore C. Badala, who with Associate Maria Fleming, were part of the trial team for the Plaintiffs.

“The role of these three major pharmacy chains in the addictions and deaths of millions of Americans from opioid abuse cannot be overstated,” said Partner Paul J. Napoli. “In Ohio, they contributed to innumerable deaths and the ruination of communities that will take decades to recover,” added Partner Hunter J. Shkolnik.

“On behalf of Napoli Shkolnik clients Lake and Trumbull Counties, who have been devastated by the opioid crisis, we salute the opioid MDL lawyers and trial team for this landmark victory,” said Shkolnik.

Partners Paul J. Napoli, Hunter J. Shkolnik, Shayna E. Sacks and Joseph L. Ciaccio formed the Case Track Three team working with Badala and Fleming.

Napoli Shkolnik’s Landmark Cases in Opioid Litigation

Since 2021, Napoli Shkolnik’s Opioid Trial Team has won landmark cases in opioid litigation. In December 2021, a jury found Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and five other companies responsible for causing a public nuisance in Nassau County, New York, by minimizing the addictiveness of opioids with misleading marketing. Napoli Shkolnik partners Hunter Shkolnik, Salvatore Badala, Joseph Ciaccio, and the firm’s Opioid Trial Team represented Nassau County in that trial. It set the stage for the $6 Billion TEVA and AbbVie/Allergan Opioid Settlement that will be paid directly to state and local governments of communities impacted by the opioid epidemic.