By Jonathan Stempel
Aug 28 (Reuters) – Walmart has settled a U.S. government lawsuit accusing the largest U.S. retailer of fueling a nationwide opioid epidemic by unlawfully dispensing prescriptions from its pharmacies.
The U.S. Department of Justice and Walmart confirmed the settlement in separate statements on Friday without disclosing the terms.
In a complaint filed in 2020, the Justice Department accused Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart of repeatedly violating the federal Controlled Substances Act since 2013. The department said at the time that Walmart could face billions of dollars in civil penalties.
More than 905,000 people in the U.S. died from opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2025, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual deaths began declining after 2022, the agency said.
“The department is pleased to have reached a settlement with Walmart resolving allegations that its pharmacies failed to comply with their obligations under the Controlled Substances Act in dispensing opioids and other controlled substances,” a Justice Department spokesperson said.
Walmart said in a statement: “We are pleased to resolve this matter and will continue supporting the exceptional work our pharmacists do every day to provide outstanding patient care.”
A joint stipulation dismissing the case was filed on Thursday in the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware.
Walmart shares rose 0.5% in morning trading.
The lawsuit was one of the most significant Justice Department cases against a single company over the opioid epidemic.
Other companies targeted over opioids included Purdue Pharma, which pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2020 related to its painkiller OxyContin after filing for bankruptcy protection, and the drug wholesaler Cencora, formerly known as AmerisourceBergen.
In March 2024, U.S. District Judge Colm Connolly narrowed the Walmart case, dismissing claims that Walmart failed to report suspicious prescriptions to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and that Walmart pharmacists failed to document “red flags” associated with prescriptions.
Connolly let the government pursue a claim that pharmacists dispensed prescriptions that Walmart compliance personnel knew were invalid. A fourth claim, that pharmacists dispensed prescriptions they knew were invalid, also remained pending.
In 2022, Walmart agreed to pay $3.1 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits by state and local governments over its pharmacies’ role in the opioid crisis. CVS and Walgreens reached similar, larger settlements.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York and Andrew Goudsward in Washington, D.C.; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Deepa Babington, Elaine Hardcastle)
