Bankrupt Rite Aid sues US Justice Dept to stop opioid lawsuit

Rite Aid

16/11/2023 20:03

By Dietrich Knauth
       NEW YORK, Nov 16 (Reuters) - Rite Aid sued the U.S.
Department of Justice on Thursday, seeking to stop a lawsuit
alleging that the bankrupt pharmacy chain ignored red flags and
illegally filled hundreds of thousands of prescriptions for
addictive opioid medication.
    The DOJ, which sued Rite Aid in March, agreed only to a
"brief pause" of its lawsuit after Rite Aid went bankrupt last
month, a position that threatens to undermine the company's
restructuring efforts, Rite Aid said in a complaint filed on
Thursday in New Jersey bankruptcy court.
    Rite Aid asked U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan to rule
that the DOJ lawsuit cannot proceed while Rite Aid is bankrupt,
which would put the government on equal footing with other
opioid plaintiffs whose lawsuits were automatically stopped by
the company's bankruptcy filing. 
    The DOJ has argued that U.S. bankruptcy law does not stop it
from exercising its "police powers" through its lawsuit.
    Rite Aid would not concede that point, and said a bankruptcy
judge should rule on that dispute rather than the judge
overseeing the DOJ's lawsuit in Cleveland federal court.      

 (Reporting by Dietrich Knauth
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
 ((Dietrich.Knauth@thomsonreuters.com;))