Judge orders Albertsons to pay Washington $900M for its pharmacies' role in the opioid crisis

A Washington state judge ordered Albertsons (ACI) to pay $900M for its pharmacies' role in the opioid crisis, in what the state's attorney general calls the largest verdict in Washington's history.

Judge Janet Helson ruled on Thursday, Nov. 5, after a 9-week trial without a jury. She awarded $800M to a fund combatting the opioid epidemic and $100M in civil penalties, plus the state's legal costs.

The state had asked for $2.2B for legal fees and costs alone.

Washington sued in 2022. Albertsons, which runs more than 200 pharmacies in the state under the Albertsons, Safeway, and Haggen names, was the last chain still fighting the case.

The state argued that its pharmacies filled opioid prescriptions with warning signs of misuse more than 6.5M times between 2006 and 2022, without recording any check that they were legitimate.

The judge agreed. She wrote that Albertsons "routinely disregarded or ignored" information and tools that could have kept pills off the illicit market, "choosing sales and profits over patient safety." She also pointed to prescriptions it filled for so-called pill mill doctors.

Pharmacists must spot and resolve these red flags under state and federal law. The attorney general's office says more than 26,000 people in Washington have died of an opioid overdose since 1999.

Albertsons said it is "disappointed by the court's ruling and respectfully disagrees with its conclusions," and that it will "evaluate all available options, including appeal."

At trial, the company argued that pharmacists did not have to second-guess a doctor without a strong reason to doubt a prescription.

Washington had stayed out of the $774M deal Albertsons reached in April to settle most opioid claims from other states, local governments, and tribes. That deal is to be paid over 9 years, the company's latest quarterly report shows.

Attorney General Nick Brown said the state wanted more from Albertsons than other settlements delivered. "We thought the liability and the accountability that we needed to achieve against Albertsons was greater than the efforts that we were seeing elsewhere," he said.

Albertsons shares were down 1.7% at $12.58 on Monday, as of 11:30 a.m. ET.

The money will take time to reach Washington because Albertsons can appeal.

Sources & Further Reading

1. "Washington wins $900 million verdict against Albertsons for fueling opioid crisis." Washington State Office of the Attorney General. November 5, 2026.
2. "Albertsons must pay $900 million for fueling opioid epidemic in Washington state, judge rules." Reuters. November 5, 2026.
3. "Albertsons must pay $900M for role in WA opioid crisis, judge rules." Washington State Standard. November 5, 2026.
4. "Judge orders Albertsons to pay Washington $900 million over role in opioid crisis." Courthouse News Service. November 5, 2026.
5. "Albertsons Q2 2027 Quarterly Report (Form 10-Q)." Albertsons Companies. October 13, 2026.