A Florida judge has ruled in favor of CVS, Walgreens and Walmart in a lawsuit brought by 16 hospitals seeking $2 billion in damages related to the opioid epidemic.
Broward County Chief Judge Carol-Lisa Phillips entered judgment for the defendants May 26, granting a motion for judgment in accordance with a motion for directed verdict after reviewing the trial record and applicable law.
The lawsuit, filed by Florida Health Sciences Center, Inc., and other hospital plaintiffs, proceeded to trial in September 2025 on Florida Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization enterprise and conspiracy claims. The hospitals sought damages for alleged underpayment related to opioid-related visits — specifically, more than $500 million in unpaid bills from treating opioid-related injuries and $1.5 billion in damages from providing broader care to patients who used opioids.
Judge Phillips found the hospitals could not recover damages under state racketeering law because their injuries were indirect. In her ruling, she wrote that “absent harm to patients with opioid use disorder, plaintiffs would have suffered no injury,” finding that harm to opioid patients was a necessary legal prerequisite to any injury the hospitals suffered.
The case had a winding path to this ruling. A jury deadlocked after two weeks of deliberations in December 2025, prompting Judge Phillips to declare a mistrial. Rather than proceed to a new trial, the judge ended the case through the directed verdict.
Defendants moved for a directed verdict at the close of the plaintiffs’ case and renewed the motion after the close of evidence. The original motion was filed Oct. 30, 2025.
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