Walmart, CVS and Walgreens — backed by business groups — have urged the Ohio Supreme Court to toss a $650 million jury verdict awarded to two counties in opioid litigation, saying that state product liability law bars the counties' public nuisance claims.

At stake is whether Lake and Trumbull counties can keep their 2021 jury award, which was handed down after a six-week trial over the counties' accusations that the pharmacies contributed to the epidemic by filling prescriptions for opioids without enough safeguards in place to prevent the drugs from entering the black market.

"It's clear the pharmacy defendants are extremely worried they will be paying the $650 million verdict and have lined up amici from a veritable who's who of wrongdoers to support their effort to overturn our clients' win," the counties' counsel Hunter Shkolnik told Law360. "Neither their briefs nor their amici get it right, because public nuisance is alive and well in Ohio."

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