As part of a May 2008 settlement with McKesson, agreements were made to step up self-monitoring of opioid shipments sent to buyers. An opioid epidemic lawsuit was filed by shareholders of the company alleging these agreements were not kept by the corporation.

According to BloombergQuint, presiding Delaware Chancery Judge Sam Glasscock III mandated that the opioid epidemic lawsuit, filed confidentially in October of this year, become part of the public record.

The opioid epidemic lawsuit is specifically addressed to current and top officers of the McKesson corporation who were running the show while the opioid epidemic marched into full swing.

The named defendants in the lawsuit are individuals who operated as part of the board of trustee’s audit committee and were responsible for risk assessment, protection, and full compliance of the settlement agreement. Also named as defendants in the opioid epidemic lawsuit are the company’s former Director, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), former General Counsel, Lead Independent Director and Board Member, respectively.

The filing plaintiff is a McKesson shareholder named Chalie S.  Charlie accuses the corporation of failing to adhere to its own settlement terms by failing to flag suspicious and redundant opioid orders from the pharmacies that sparked the initial lawsuit in the first place.

U.S. federal law makes it mandatory for distributors of prescription drugs, especially narcotics, to report any orders from buyers that differ in size or rate of fulfillment to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

In the original lawsuit that ended in the settlement, McKesson was accused by prosecuting attorneys of having filled excessively large orders to regular-sized pharmacies and clinics. They also were accused of filling orders by shady online pharmacies that did not require current prescriptions for opioids. Opioid doses were allowed to flow outward from the drug distribution giant in an easily divertible manner, causing the corporation to contribute to the current opioid crisis in the U.S.

According to the recently publicized narrative of the current opioid epidemic lawsuit, just five months after settlement, the board’s audit committee was told of a serious lack of attention in flagging and identifying suspicious pharmaceutical sales. The lawsuit alleges that the board’s audit committee didn’t further discuss the need for improvement or how to make changes until 2013 when the DEA subpoenaed shipment records from McKesson warehouses.

In 2014, many U.S. attorneys were investigating the way the company distributed its store of highly-addictive painkillers. Investigations led to admission on the part of McKesson that it had not complied with many shipment-reporting requirements and the levied consequences of this was a $150 million fine with greater compliance adherence signed agreements.

In the last fiscal year for the McKesson Corporation, $198.5 billion in revenue was gained. Of this revenue, its profit was well above $5 billion. This opioid epidemic lawsuit filed by a shareholder questions whether the massive profit last year and for many years was gained on the backs of people that have suffered addiction or even died from it.

The Opioid Epidemic Lawsuit is Case No. 2017-0736 in the Delaware Court of Chancery.

In general, opioid addiction lawsuits are filed individually by each plaintiff and are not class actions.

Do YOU have a legal claim? Fill out the form on this page now for a free, immediate, and confidential case evaluation. The attorneys who work with Top Class Actions will contact you if you qualify to let you know if an individual opioid addictino lawsuit or opioid addiction class action lawsuit is best for you. Hurry — statutes of limitations may apply.

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