By Dietrich Knauth

May 27 (Reuters) - CVS, Walgreens and Walmart defeated a lawsuit brought by 16 Florida hospitals accusing them of flooding the state with opioids, after a judge found that the pharmacy chains' alleged efforts to boost opioid sales did not directly harm the hospitals.

The case went to a jury in late 2025 and resulted in a mistrial when the jurors could not reach a verdict. Rather than holding a new trial set for August, Broward County Chief Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips ruled late Tuesday in favor of the pharmacy chains.

Phillips wrote that no reasonable jury would rule for the hospitals, because their racketeering and conspiracy claims required them to show that they had been directly harmed by the pharmacy chains’ conduct.

Instead, the evidence presented at trial showed that the increased opioid sales directly harmed individual patients who became addicted to painkillers, and the hospitals were only indirectly harmed when they incurred increased expenses treating more patients with opioid use disorder, Phillips said.

CVS CVS.N said in a statement that it was pleased that the judge had rejected the hospitals' "meritless" lawsuit, and Walmart WMT.O said the ruling supports the company's position that it was not responsible for causing any injuries to Florida hospitals. Walgreens and an attorney for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Florida hospitals, including Broward Health, Tampa General Hospital and Good Samaritan Medical Center, sued in 2019, claiming the pharmacy chains violated Florida's anti-racketeering law by working with drugmakers and distributors to drive up opioid sales, leaving them to absorb the cost of treating resulting injuries, often without being reimbursed. The hospitals said they racked up $528.3 million for opioid injuries, plus another $1.5 billion when patients with opioid-related conditions sought care for other issues.

The pharmacy chains argued they sold legal medications prescribed by doctors and denied conspiring with drugmakers.

The opioid epidemic has claimed more than 800,000 lives in the U.S. since 1999, although the rate of overdose deaths has declined in recent years. The health crisis has sparked thousands of lawsuits accusing drug companies of contributing to the problem by deceptively marketing opioid painkillers like OxyContin as less addictive alternatives for pain treatment. The litigation has resulted in about $57 billion in settlements with companies that made or sold opioid medications, and most of the settlement money is being paid to states or local governments.

The case is Florida Health Sciences Center, North Broward Hospital District v. CVS, Walmart, and Walgreens; Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, No. 19-018882

For the hospitals: Warren Burns and Daniel Charest of Burns Charest

For Walmart: David Markus and Margot Moss of Markus/Moss; and Tara Fumerton of Jones Day

For CVS: Eric Delinsky, Marcos Hasbun and Adam Fotiades of Zuckerman Spaeder

For Walgreens: Brian Swanson and Katherine Swift of Bartlit Beck

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