The Justice Department intervenes in a 2019 Rite Aid case, moving the case to Ohio.
In Cleveland, Ohio, the U.S. Justice Department intervened in a whistleblower lawsuit that accused Rite Aid of illegally distributing opioids. Similar to other cases previously filed against large pharmacy chains, the suit accused Rite Aid of pressuring pharmacists to irresponsibly fill opioid prescriptions regardless of validity. The lawsuit was initially filed in 2019 in Pennsylvania but was recently moved to Cleveland under the multi-district litigation (MDL) overseen by federal judge Dan Polster.
In November, the Justice Department filed a motion to intervene in the case and U.S. District Judge Charles Fleming granted the request in December. This intervention allowed for a settlement from Rite Aid to be possible. It also allows the prosecutors to seek millions of dollars.
The lawsuit seemed to stem from a complaint from a pharmacist saying that they were being instructed by Rite Aid executives to hand out opioid prescriptions whether there was a medical reason for doing so or not. Because of this, addictive drugs flooded communities across the U.S., contributing to the ongoing addiction crisis. Thousands of similar cases against other chains have been filed, hoping to hold pharmacies accountable for their actions. The suits have also claimed that pharmacies declined to flag suspicious opioid orders and report these to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as required by law.
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