$700 Million Opioid Settlement to Benefit Acute Care Hospitals

Resolution with opioid distributors, Janssen, Teva, and Allergan ends eight years of litigation; provides financial relief and medication to hospitals that have been at front lines of opioid crisis

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca Firm Chairman Charles LaDuca is proud to announce a landmark $700 million settlement in four nationwide class actions on behalf of acute care hospitals impacted by the opioid epidemic has received final court approval. This settlement provides eligible medical facilities financial relief and medication supplies after years of treating victims of the opioid crisis that was alleged to have been caused by the defendants’ misconduct.

The settlement ends nearly eight years of litigation between the hospitals and distributor defendants Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen), Cardinal Health, and McKesson as well as manufacturers Janssen, Teva, and Allergan.

Hospitals — legally and morally — are compelled to treat patients with opioid-related conditions and, as a result, were directly and monetarily damaged by excessive opioid use. The lawsuit alleged that to sell as many prescription opioids as possible, manufacturers misrepresented the risks and safety of prescription opioid use and distributors did not properly monitor, stop, or report suspicious orders. As a result, hospitals had to spend additional money and resources to treat opioid-dependent patients and patients with opioid-related conditions that they would not have had to treat otherwise.

Under the agreement, the payments by the settlement defendants are divided as follows:

• Distributors: $390 million
• Janssen: $110 million
• Teva: $126 million
• Allergan: $25 million
• Additionally, Teva will distribute Naloxone Hydrochloride Nasal Spray, a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose, to Acute Care Hospitals valued at up to $49 million

The settlement is notable not only for its size but also for its unprecedented support among class members: it received zero objections, zero opt outs, and a nearly 75% claims rate — a record-breaking result for a class action of this kind.

“The opioid crisis has affected every corner of our communities, and hospitals have been no exception,” said Charles J. LaDuca, Firm Chairman of Cuneo Gilbert & LaDuca, LLP and co-lead class counsel in the litigation. “This settlement delivers meaningful, tangible relief that directly supports the front-line institutions that have carried so much of the weight — often without recognition or reimbursement.”

“This resolution is the result of years of persistence with a clear goal: to hold these companies accountable for their role in the opioid crisis,” said LaDuca. “It delivers both justice and support to the hospitals that stepped in to care for the most vulnerable when the crisis was at its peak.”

Acute care hospital class members have already filed claims and will receive payments based on a Plan of Allocation approved by the Court.

More information is available at www.acutecarehospitalsettlement.com.

Litigation will continue against non-settling Defendants Indivior, Inc. f/k/a Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Inc. f/k/a West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Henry Schein, Inc.; Walgreens; CVS; Kroger; Safeway; Albertson’s; HBC; Giant Eagle; Publix; and Walmart.

The lawsuit is a class action known as San Miguel Hospital Corp., d/b/a Alta Vista Regional Hospital v. Johnson & Johnson, No. 1:23-cv-00903, before Judge Kea Riggs of the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.