A King County Superior Court judge on Thursday ordered grocery chain Albertsons to pay Washington state $900 million over how its pharmacies handled opioid prescriptions, Attorney General Nick Brown's office said after a nine-week bench trial¹.

Judge Janet Helson issued the ruling in Seattle in a case the state brought over dispensing at Albertsons, Safeway and Haggen pharmacies¹. Brown said the award is believed to be the largest verdict in Washington history¹. A Reuters report carried by AOL said Helson decided a 2022 lawsuit after a non-jury trial².

The state alleged Albertsons, which runs more than 200 pharmacies in Washington, dispensed 641 million opioid pills between 2006 and 2022, and that many of those prescriptions had red flags that should have been investigated first¹. Brown's office said the chain filled prescriptions more than 6.5 million times without showing pharmacists had confirmed they were written for legitimate medical purposes, and that pills were diverted as overdose deaths rose¹. Reuters reported the state said more than 26,000 Washington residents died of opioid overdose during the epidemic².

Reuters reported Washington asked Helson at trial for $2.2 billion to abate epidemic harms plus additional penalties, and that the state alleged public nuisance and consumer-protection violations after declining a national settlement Albertsons reached with other plaintiffs². Washington has already secured nearly $2.2 billion for state and local governments in other cases against manufacturers and distributors, money earmarked for abuse-prevention and overdose response, the Washington State Standard reported¹.

Brown told reporters the verdict affirms that companies will be held accountable when they do not prioritize customer safety¹.

Albertsons said in a statement it was disappointed by the ruling and respectfully disagrees with the court's conclusions, and that it will review the decision and evaluate options including an appeal¹. The company said it is proud of its pharmacists and will continue what it called responsible pharmacy operations in Washington¹. Reuters reported Albertsons denied wrongdoing and argued it filled lawful prescriptions written by doctors².

The $900 million will not reach the state immediately if Albertsons appeals Helson's verdict¹. In April, the chain agreed to pay $774 million to settle numerous other opioid lawsuits elsewhere^1,2. How an appeals court would treat the award is unknown¹.