Pharmacy chain CVS was the target of suits last month by National Union and by Chubb unit Ace Property and Casualty, which said it has “no obligation to defend or indemnify CVS in connection with” the opioid cases.
CVS has since countersued Chubb and other insurers and is asking a Delaware judge to move all those cases to Rhode Island, said Mike DeAngelis, a spokesman for the pharmacy company. CVS is based in Woonsocket, Rhode Island.
In its Rhode Island countersuit, which names more than 50 insurers as defendants, CVS said it had purchased “hundreds of millions of dollars in liability coverage” annually from Chubb that should cover injuries consumers suffered from opioids.
“Chubb denied coverage outright in or around 2018 and has not paid a single dollar toward the defense, settlement, or liability arising from any of the opioid lawsuits,” CVS lawyers said in a court filing. “For the years since then, Chubb rested on its coverage denial while CVS focused on defending the opioid lawsuits on its own.”
In January, pharmacy chain Rite Aid declined to comment on the Delaware Supreme Court ruling, and spokeswoman Terri Hickey didn’t respond to requests for comment on Friday.
Policy holders may yet prevail. While the Delaware ruling in January against Rite Aid has emboldened insurers to deny coverage, courts in other states have found general liability policies should cover nuisance claims.
“It’s not 100% clear the Delaware Supreme Court got this one right,” said Miguel, the California insurance lawyer. “It’s pretty out of character for them to take such a hard line on these kinds of issues.”
The most recent case is Hartford Casualty v. AmerisourceBergen Corp., NC22C-02-099, Delaware Superior Court (Wilmington).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.