The Ohio Supreme Court heard arguments from two Ohio counties including Trumbull County on whether or not pharmacies selling opioids can be considered a nuisance. 

Back in 2022, Trumbull and Lake Counties won a $650.9 million judgment against three chain pharmacies including Walgreen's Walmart and CVS for their roles in the opioid epidemic.

The counties claimed that between 2000 and 2014, the pharmacies dispensed 68-million doses of opioids in Trumbull County. 

Not long after this ruling, the pharmacies fired back filing an appeal of the ruling asking the judge to throw out the case or order a new trial.

In their appeal, the pharmacies argued that nuisance laws should not apply in this situation because they require unlawful or intentional conduct. They argued that federal law does not require pharmacies to predict and prevent the diversion of these prescription opioids by third parties.

In September of 2023, the Ohio Supreme Court was asked to weigh in on this matter.

During Tuesday's hearing, Jeffery Wall who represented Walgreen's petitioners, referenced the Ohio Products Liability Act (OPLA) and stated that the language in the law is "unambiguous" in that OPLA nullifies all common law product liability causes of action including any public nuisance claim or cause of action based on the distribution or sale of a product.

"That language could not be broader or more categorical. What's more, those two pieces of language were added by the general assembly ... precisely to prevent plaintiffs from bringing common law public nuisance claims involving products outside of OPLA's exclusive scheme. That's exactly what the counties are attempting to do again here," Wall said

Meanwhile, David Frederick, who represented the Counties, fired back stating that in order to fall within OPLA, you'd need to have a defective product and the issue at hand is not that opioids are defective, but that they're dangerous.

"The problem here was that the pharmacies failed to police in their dispensing practices the manner of which opioids would be overprescribed and subject to diversion," Frederick said.

Frederick went on to assert that OPLA applies to compensatory damages for personal injuries, but what the counties are seeking is the abatement remedies ordered by the court.

These orders were to stop the improper dispensing practices and create a fund to combat addiction including increased staffing for first responders and life-saving drugs that can be administered at the scene of an overdose.

"Those are the kinds of issues that counties like Trumbull and Lake Counties are having to deal with as the opioid crisis will continue for several more decades because the nature of this addiction is such that once a significant portion of the population is addicted, it is very difficult to wean people off it," Frederick said.

The Supreme Court did not make a ruling Tuesday, but has taken the matter under advisement.