Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP Announce A Proposed Class Action Settlement If You Purchased or Paid for a Prescription Drug With Insurance At Walgreens from January 1, 2007 through November 18, 2024
SAN DIEGO, Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ --
If You Purchased or Paid for a Prescription Drug with Insurance At Walgreens,(1) A Class Action Settlement Could Affect You.
This is not a solicitation from a lawyer.
A proposed Settlement(2 )has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Defendant Walgreen Co. ("Walgreens") on behalf of individuals, health insurers, and other entities who pay for prescription drugs regarding Walgreens' usual and customary pricing practices. The class action lawsuit, Russo, et al. v. Walgreen Co., No. 1:17-cv-02246 (N.D. Ill.), relates to how Walgreens determined its usual and customary prices in submitting claims for prescription reimbursement, including whether it should have considered its Prescription Savings Club ("PSC") prices in determining its usual and customary prices. Walgreens denies any wrongdoing and maintains that it correctly reported its retail prices as its usual and customary prices. The Court has not decided who is right.
The Court has preliminarily approved the proposed Settlement. To resolve the claims, the proposed Settlement will provide for $100,000,000 to be paid by Walgreens ("Settlement Fund"). As discussed below, all Court-approved attorneys' fees and expenses, the costs of notice and administering the Settlement, service awards, and other costs will be deducted from this amount ("Net Settlement Fund"). The Net Settlement Fund will be paid to members of the Settlement Class (defined below) who submit valid claims.
The Court has scheduled a Fairness Hearing to decide whether to approve the Settlement, the plan for allocating the Net Settlement Fund among claimants, Class Counsel's request for attorneys' fees and payment of litigation expenses out of the Settlement Fund, and the plaintiffs' request for payment of services awards. The Fairness Hearing is scheduled for September 10, 2025, at 12:15 p.m. CST, before Judge Edmond E. Chang of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois at the United States Courthouse, 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago, IL 60604. The time and date of the Fairness Hearing may change. For up-to-date information on the Fairness Hearing, check www.SavingsClubSettlement.com.
Who Is Included?
The Settlement Class is defined as follows:
-- All individuals and entities in the United States and its territories
who paid, in whole or in part, at any point in time from the period
January 1, 2007 through November 18, 2024 (the "Settlement Class
Period"), for one or more prescription drugs from Walgreens, where
prescription insurance benefits were used in filling the
prescription(s).
-- The following groups are excluded from the Settlement Class: (1)
Walgreens and its management and affiliates, and employees of Walgreens
and its affiliates; (2) the Court, members of their immediate families,
and judicial staff (but not members of the immediate families of
judicial staff); (3) all pharmacy benefit managers; (4) individuals who
paid for all of their prescription drugs from Walgreens during the
Settlement Class Period without using insurance benefits; (5) federal
and state government entities other than government-funded employee
benefit plans; and (6) all individuals and entities, except for the
named plaintiffs, that have sued, filed an arbitration demand, or
participated in a settlement in a suit against Walgreens relating to its
determination of usual and customary prices in connection with the
Prescription Savings Club (this exception to the exclusion from the
Settlement Class does not apply to individuals or entities that have
voluntarily dismissed their claims without prejudice in any suit or
arbitration).
What Does The Class Action Settlement Provide?
Walgreens will pay $100,000,000 into a Settlement Fund to settle all claims in the lawsuit brought on behalf of Settlement Class Members who are individuals, as well as health insurers and other entities who pay for prescription drugs, in whole or in part, for employees/beneficiaries.
The Settlement Fund will be distributed pursuant to a Plan of Allocation and Distribution, the latest version of which can be reviewed at www.SavingsClubSettlement.com. Class Counsel will ask the Court to award attorneys' fees not to exceed 30% of the Settlement Fund, as well as out-of-pocket costs, expenses and charges not to exceed $3,000,000, and interest, as well as Service Award payments to the Plaintiffs not to exceed $5,000 to each Individual Plaintiff and $15,000 to each Fund Plaintiff, and Notice and Administration Expenses.
The Net Settlement Fund will be distributed to members of the Settlement Class who file valid claim forms. Payments will be calculated based on the amount a claimant paid, in whole or in part, during the Settlement Class Period for the purchase of or reimbursement for one or more prescription drugs from Walgreens, where prescription insurance benefits were used in filling the prescription(s), as described below. The precise amount that you might receive from the Net Settlement Fund will depend on how much you (and other members of the Settlement Class) paid, in whole or in part, during the Settlement Class Period for the purchase of prescription drug(s) from Walgreens, where prescription insurance benefits were used in filling the prescription(s).
To be entitled to a payment from the Net Settlement Fund, you must submit the Claim Form (and documentation, if required) found at www.SavingsClubSettlement.com by April 17, 2025.
YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS AND OPTIONS IN THIS SETTLEMENT
PARTICIPATE IN To exercise your right to obtain a share of the Net
Settlement
THE SETTLEMENT Fund, you will need to complete, sign, and submit a
Claim
BY COMPLETING Form (and documentation, if required) by April 17,
2025. For
AND RETURNING A further information about whether you qualify, the
payment you
CLAIM FORM may obtain, and the documentation and data you may
need to
submit, you may access the detailed Notice at
www.SavingsClubSettlement.com or you may access a
claim
form at www.SavingsClubSettlement.com, or you may
visit
www.SavingsClubSettlement.com, or by phone at
1-877-888-
8386.
EXCLUDE YOURSELF If you believe you are a member of the Settlement
Class, you
FROM THE may choose to exclude yourself, or "opt out," from
the
SETTLEMENT CLASS Settlement Class. If you decide to exclude
yourself, you will
not be bound by any decision in this lawsuit
relating to
Walgreens. This is the only option that allows you
to ever be
part of any lawsuit (other than this lawsuit)
against Walgreens
relating to the legal claims against Walgreens in
this case. To
exclude yourself, you will need to inform the
Settlement
Administrator of your decision by March 18, 2025,
and
provide the information set forth in the Notice
found at
www.SavingsClubSettlement.com. If the Settlement is
approved by the Court and you do not notify the
Settlement
Administrator by the deadline of your election to
"opt out" of
the Settlement Class, you will be bound by the
Settlement. If
you opt out, you may not submit a Claim Form.
STAY IN THE If you object to all or any part of the proposed
Settlement, plan
LAWSUIT BUT of allocation, and/or requested attorneys' fees,
expenses, or
OBJECT TO THE service awards, you may write to the Court and
object. You may
SETTLEMENT only object to the proposed Settlement, plan of
allocation,
and/or requested attorneys' fees, expenses, or
service awards if
you have not excluded yourself from the Settlement
Class. Any
objections must be submitted to the Court by March
18, 2025,
and provide the information set forth below in the
Notice found
at www.SavingsClubSettlement.com.
DO NOTHING If you are a member of the Settlement Class and do
not file a
valid claim, you will not receive any payment from
the
Settlement. Moreover, even if you do not file a
valid claim,
unless you exclude yourself from the Settlement
Class, you will
nevertheless be bound by past and any future Court
rulings,
including rulings on the Settlement, if approved,
and settlement
releases but will not be eligible to receive any
payment from
the Settlement.
GET MORE If you would like to get more information about the
case or the
INFORMATION Settlement, you can send questions to the
Settlement
Administrator identified in this Notice.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND A CLAIM FORM:
CALL: 1-877-888-8386 OR VISIT:
WWW.SAVINGSCLUBSETTLEMENT.COM
Inquiries, other than requests for the Notice and Claim Form, should be made to Plaintiffs' Lead Counsel:
David Mitchell
Arthur L. Shingler III
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP
655 West Broadway, Suite 1900
San Diego, CA 92101
Joseph P. Guglielmo
Erin G. Comite
Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law LLP
The Helmsley Building, 230 Park Ave, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10169
( 1 )Walgreens includes all pharmacies owned and operated by Walgreen Co., or any of its affiliates, but only to the extent and for the time period they accepted Walgreens' PSC during the Settlement Class Period.
(2 )Unless otherwise defined herein, capitalized terms shall be those defined in the Stipulation of Class Action Settlement which can be found at www.savingsclubsettlement.com.
.
SOURCE Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd and Scott+Scott Attorneys at Law
