Family can sue Walgreens for 260 opioids given former Dublin football player, court rules

Jordan Laird, The Columbus Dispatch
·1 min read
Stephen Mehrer died in October 2017 at the age of 26. Mehrer played football for Dublin Jerome High School and Kent State University.
Stephen Mehrer died in October 2017 at the age of 26. Mehrer played football for Dublin Jerome High School and Kent State University.

A state appeals court in Franklin County has ruled that the family of a former Dublin Jerome High School and Kent State University football player who died of a drug overdose can sue Walgreens.

Stephen Mehrer, 26, died in October 2017 in Florida from an overdose of a mix of opioids, according to a civil suit. His family says he became addicted to painkillers after he injured his shoulder in a high school game in 2009 and required surgery.

Mehrer’s family filed a lawsuit against Walgreens in 2019, saying its pharmacy negligently dispensed Mehrer 260 opioid pills in two months. Two doctors prescribed Mehrer the Hydrocodone and Oxycodone pills, but Mehrer’s family says Walgreens pharmacists had a duty to flag the large number of pills and that the company’s failure to do so led to the wrongful death of their son several years later.

In court documents, Walgreens argued that filling the prescriptions in 2009 was not the cause of Mehrer’s death.

At the request of Walgreens, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Julie Lynch dismissed the lawsuit in April 2022. Lynch found the pills dispensed in 2009 could not have caused Mehrer’s death in 2017.

The Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals, which handles appeals from Franklin County and certain state cases, ruled last week that the Mehrer family's case can go forward. Judge Michael C. Mentel wrote the unanimous opinion for the three-judge panel, finding the family raised a legitimate argument.

“Addiction is a ‘long-term, chronic, and relapsing disease’ that is complex to evaluate in this context,” Mentel wrote in his opinion.

The case will be reopened in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.

A Walgreen spokesperson declined comment when contacted by The Dispatch.

Related: 'She's my angel' Franklin County Drug Court graduate says h.a.r.t. program saves lives

jlaird@dispatch.com

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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Appeals Court: Dublin family's lawsuit against Walgreens can proceed