West Virginia Attorney General’s Office Busy During COVID-19 Crisis
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WHEELING -- The COVID-19 crisis has brought a busy fall to the office of West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.
In September, the office will have 23 arguments before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, according to Morrisey.
Many of these are cases that have been delayed as the courts were closed in recent months.
More recent cases have involved reports of price gouging, and Morrisey already has filed suit against those wanting to raise the price of eggs. He suspects legal action regarding additional reports also will be taken.
Still, long-standing matters in the state continue to be at issue.
This week, Morrisey filed a civil suit against Walmart and CVS alleging they have some responsibilities for the opioid epidemic in West Virginia. The suit seeks to make certain the pharmaceutical giants are held accountable for any alleged violations of Consumer Protection Act and state law in West Virginia.
"I believe strongly there needs to be accountability up and down the pharmaceutical supply channel," Morrisey said. "We have been aggressive and successful going after diversion, illicit subscribing and targeting the causes of (the) epidemic.
"This is just one step among many. We are going to have many more announcements in the future as we try to resolve a number of these issues."
Morrisey said his case against Walmart and CVS alleges there was "problematic behavior" with the drug chains for an ongoing amount of time "which contributed to the opioid epidemic."
Similar suits have been filed by the office against Rite-Aid and Walgreens.
"We believe wholesalers and all entities in the channel have a duty to make sure these products aren't falling into the wrong hands, and also certain companies have a duty to report suspicious orders," he said. "We believe that did not occur in this case."
The lawsuits allege Walmart and CVS, as individual distributors, "supplied far more opioids to their retail pharmacies than necessary to meet a legitimate market, and not even that was enough as the retail pharmacies ordered additional pills from other distributors to fulfill demand," according to information provided by Morrisey's office.
Morrisey contends Walmart and CVS each knew its obligation to halt suspicious orders to its retail pharmacies, but failed to monitor for and report such activity. Walmart and CVS were each among the state's top 10 opioid distributors from 2006 to 2014.
Meanwhile, reports of those seeking to illegally profit from the COVID-19 crisis continue to come into the Attorney General's Office.
"We received a lot of calls during the pandemic, and we are trying to investigate every allegation," he said. "It takes time, but we're trying to get it right."
Morrisey said since the start of the COVID-19 crisis last spring, his office has focussed on national settlement discussions and making sure the interests of West Virginians are protected.
"We have been swamped with COVID-related work in the office -- a lot of consumer enforcement work -- and we're trying to get it right," he said. "Our team has been working around the clock."