Judge to decide drug crisis damages

CLEVELAND (AP) — How much money should CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies pay two Ohio counties in damages to help them ease the effects of the opioid crisis?

That's the question in front of a federal judge in Cleveland, who will begin hearing testimony on Tuesday

after a jury found the three giant pharmacy chains responsible last fall for recklessly distributing massive amounts of pain pills in Lake and Trumbull counties. It was the first time pharmacies in the U.S.

have been held responsible for the opioid crisis.

Plaintiff's attorneys said before trial that each county needs about $1 billion to repair the damage caused by the flood of pills, which caused hundreds of overdose deaths.

Around 80 million prescription painkillers were dispensed in Trumbull County between 2012 and 2016 — 400 for every county resident — while 61 million pills were dispensed

in Lake County during that five-year period — 265 pills for every resident.

Back in November, a jury in U.S. District Judge Dan Polster's courtroom sided with the counties and

agreed that the way the pharmacies dispensed pain medication played an outsized role in creating a public nuisance.

Now, the counties are expected to present testimony from doctors to discuss the harm suffered by those

communities, the opioid crisis' impact on child welfare and other

county agencies, and an abatement plan created for the counties.

"The jury sounded a bell that should be heard through all pharmacies in America," Mark Lanier, the lead attorney for the counties, said after November's verdict.

Across the U.S., many lawsuits filed by governments over the toll of the drugs have been resolved in recent years — most with settlements, and some with judgments or verdicts in trials. So far, drug makers, distributors and pharmacies have agreed to settlements totaling well over $40 billion, according to an Associated Press tally.

Trials are underway in courts in West Virginia, Florida and California. A decision has not yet been issued after another trial last year in West Virginia.