Walmart Must Turn Over Files on Alleged Opioid Mishandling
- Judge finds ‘clear basis’ for probing board’s oversight acts
- Retailer faces suits by states, local governments across U.S.
A Walmart in-store pharmacy in Torrance, California.
Photographer: Patrick Fallon/Bloomberg
Walmart Inc. must disclose some internal files related to alleged mishandling of opioid painkillers sold through the company’s in-store pharmacies, after a judge ruled in favor of investors who claim directors failed in their oversight.
Two pension funds “quite clearly have a credible basis” to probe whether board members wrongfully turned a blind eye to excessively large sales of the highly addictive medicines, Delaware Chancery Judge Travis Laster ruled Monday. Walmart must turn over board discussions about opioid issues stretching back to 2010.
“I don’t think this is a close call,” Laster said during a video hearing. “I don’t think you can say with a straight face there isn’t any evidence of wrongdoing.”
States and local governments are suing numerous drug makers, distributors and pharmacies over the U.S. opioid epidemic, including Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart. The retailer faces a November trial in Ohio in which municipalities will seek billions in damages for alleged failures to recognize “red flags” about heavily repeated sales of the painkillers.
Randy Hargrove, a Walmart spokesman, rejected claims that the company’s board members or executives fumbled their handling of opioid issues. “Walmart takes its responsibility to shareholders seriously,” Hargrove said in an emailed statement. “We continue to believe that the evidence will show neither Walmart nor its board engaged in any misconduct.”