Sept 29 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday denied a whistleblower's bid to receive a cut of retail pharmacy giant Walgreens' $4.7 billion settlement in 2022 that resolved opioid-related claims by more than two dozen US states.
US District Judge Joan Lefkow in Chicago said she did not have authority to order individual states to carve out a portion of the settlements they struck with Walgreens Boots Alliance to give to pharmacist T.J. Novak, who previously collected a $25 million whistleblower award from the federal government in a related Walgreens case.
Instead, Novak would have to take his claims to the courts in each state involved in the settlement, Lefkow said.
Novak's "demand turns on unsettled questions of the laws of twenty-eight states. With the federal claims gone, those states’ courts should answer them," Lefkow said.
Attorneys for Novak and a spokesperson for Walgreens did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The ruling stems from a long-running federal case Novak brought against Walgreens in 2018. Novak alleged Walgreens filled illegal opioid prescriptions and then sought reimbursement from government health programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.
The U.S. government joined Novak's case and reached a $300 million settlement with Walgreens, which denied wrongdoing. The accord last year included $150 million tied to Novak’s federal False Claims Act allegations, and Novak said he received a 17.25% share of the funds — more than $25 million —...
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