Maryland, My Maryland

 Balmer Sun, Maryland Supreme Court vacates Baltimore’s $153M opioid verdict, sends case back

The Maryland Supreme Court on Friday wiped out Baltimore’s $153 million opioid verdict, sending the case back to a lower court and dealing a major blow to the city’s efforts to hold drug distributors liable under public nuisance law.

In a brief order, Chief Justice Matthew Fader said the court was acting in light of its recent ruling in Express Scripts, Inc. v. Anne Arundel County, which sharply limits how public nuisance claims can be used in opioid litigation. The justices granted review, vacated the Baltimore City Circuit Court judgment and remanded the case for further proceedings consistent with that decision.

The move effectively erases the jury’s finding that distributors McKesson and Cencora were liable for contributing to Baltimore’s opioid crisis.

Retired federal judge Andre Davis said the order leaves little room for the city to recover damages from the companies that went to trial.

“This order says, ‘You lose, Baltimore City,’” said Davis, who previously served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and for three years as Baltimore’s city solicitor. He added that by referring to the “Express Scripts” ruling, the high court’s reasoning creates a “double loss” for the city.

“The case is over. Express Scripts held that not only does Maryland Law not afford a right to the city to bring this action, but even if the law did, it would be preempted by federal law,” Davis said.

Baltimore sued McKesson and Cencora, previously known as AmerisourceBergen, in 2024 for fueling the city’s opioid epidemic by shipping what it said were unreasonable amounts of prescription opioids to the area. The two companies accounted for 60% of the prescription opioid market in Baltimore, city lawyers said. McKesson and Cencora sent 320 million oxycodone pills within the city from 2006 to 2019, according to the lawsuit.

A Baltimore jury had originally awarded $266 million after finding the companies shipped excessive amounts of opioids into the city. Circuit Judge Lawrence P. Fletcher-Hill later reduced that award to $153 million, which the city accepted in 2025.

 Mattie Matlock hurt worst.