SEATTLE – Albertsons Cos. has been ordered to pay $900 million after a Washington state judge found that the grocery retailer’s pharmacy operations contributed to the state’s opioid epidemic due to inadequate oversight of prescription dispensing and distribution.
In a 219-page ruling issued on November 5, King County Superior Court Judge Janet M. Helson concluded that Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary created and maintained a public nuisance and violated Washington’s Consumer Protection Act.
The judgment requires Albertsons to contribute $800 million to a court-supervised fund to address the opioid crisis and pay $100 million in civil penalties. The company must also cover the state’s reasonable attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.
The decision follows a nine-week trial that began July 13 and concluded September 14. The court heard testimony from 45 witnesses and reviewed more than 600 exhibits.
According to the ruling, Albertsons dispensed more than 641 million opioid pills in Washington during the period under review. The court found that more than 6.5 million opioid prescriptions showed warning signs of potential diversion, including suspicious prescribing patterns, yet lacked adequate investigation and documentation.
The court determined that Albertsons failed to implement effective safeguards against opioid diversion, inadequately staffed and trained its pharmacies, and failed to properly identify and report suspicious orders for controlled substances.
Helson also found that the company had information and tools that could have helped prevent diversion but routinely failed to use them effectively.
The ruling distinguished between corporate management decisions and individual pharmacists’ conduct. Although the court did not find that pharmacists intentionally dispensed inappropriate prescriptions to increase their compensation, it concluded that Albertsons’ focus on profitability, combined with insufficient staffing and compliance resources, contributed to improper dispensing practices.
Albertsons operated approximately 227 pharmacies in Washington under its Albertsons, Safeway, and Haggen banners at the time of the December 2022 lawsuit.
Beyond the financial penalties, the judgment permanently requires Albertsons to strengthen its controlled-substance dispensing procedures in Washington. The company must implement systems to identify prescription warning signs, require pharmacists to review state prescription-monitoring records, maintain adequate staffing for those reviews, and conduct regular compliance audits.
Albertsons must also annually certify its compliance to the state attorney general for five years.
The court ordered the $800 million abatement payment to be held in a court-supervised trust to support efforts to address the opioid crisis. The ruling provides for an alternative civil penalty of approximately $337.9 million if the abatement order is overturned.
The decision is separate from Albertsons’ previously announced national opioid settlement framework. Washington pursued its claims independently rather than resolving them under that agreement.
The ruling adds to the growing financial and operational consequences for major pharmacy operators stemming from their historical handling of prescription opioids.
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