Kroger on Friday said it agreed to pay as much as $1.4 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits by states, local governments and Native American tribes claiming the supermarket chain’s pharmacies helped fuel the nation’s opioid epidemic.
The Cincinnati, Ohio-based company can pay $1.2 billion to states, counties and municipalities and an extra $36 million to Native American tribes — together with $177 million to cover attorneys’ fees and expenses.
The budget-friendly grocer — which owns Food 4 Less, Ralphs and Pay-Less Super Markets, and is merging with smaller rival Albertsons — won’t admit wrongdoing as a part of the deal.
“The settlement would allow for the complete resolution of all claims on behalf of participating states, subdivisions and tribes,” the corporate said.
“Kroger will proceed to vigorously defend against another claims and lawsuits referring to opioids that the ultimate agreement doesn’t resolve.”
The settlement money will probably be paid in installments over the course of 11 years, while legal costs will probably be paid in six years, Kroger said.
“This settlement is just not an admission of wrongdoing or liability by Kroger,” Kroger said in a press release issued Friday, the identical day it reported a lack of $180 million in its fiscal second quarter.wolterke – stock.adobe.com
Kroger has greater than 2,200 pharmacies across the US, where it was accused of selling prescribed drugs with an absence of oversight, thus contributing to the 564,000-plus individuals who died from opioid overdoses from 1999 through 2020, in response to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The opioid crisis within the US began within the Nineteen Nineties when prescription pain killers like OxyContin hit the market.
The so-called second wave of the crisis happened around 2010, when there was a rapid increase in overdose deaths involving heroin, the CDC reported.
The Post has sought comment from Kroger.
Friday’s settlement by Kroger followed a collective $13.8 billion in settlements reached last 12 months with three larger pharmacy chain operators, CVS Health Corp, Walgreens Boots Alliance and Walmart.
Last 12 months, 125-year-old pharma giant Mallinckrodt — which began producing morphine, codeine and other powerful pain-reducing drugs in 1898 — reached a $1.7 billion settlement with state and native governments for its own role in fueling the overdose epidemic.
Greater than 564,000 people died from opioid overdoses from 1999 through 2020, in response to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Shutterstock
Around the identical time Kroger issued its press release, the corporate reported a loss of $180 million in its fiscal second quarter.
The supermarket chain posted revenue of $33.85 billion within the period, which didn’t meet Wall Street forecasts, which topped $34 billion.
In its earnings report, Kroger said the $1.4 billion may affect the “ability to realize sales, earnings, incremental FIFO operating profit and adjusted free money flow goals.”
With Post wires
