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Court rules grocery chain has no opioid settlement insurance coverage
A North Carolina court said four Great American insurers owe no coverage because the grocery chain was never legally obligated to pay any part of the parent company’s $1.37 billion settlement.
A North Carolina Business Court ruled that four Great American insurance companies owe a grocery chain no coverage for the chain’s supposed share of a nationwide opioid settlement, finding the chain was never legally obligated to pay anything.
Insurance Business reports that on July 24, 2026, the court held the key phrase in the insurers’ commercial general liability policies, “becomes legally obligated to pay,” was not satisfied. The judges said the settlement created enforceable obligations only for the grocery parent, not for the subsidiary grocery chain.
The ruling followed a long-running wave of opioid litigation filed beginning in 2017, including a Durham County case that named the grocery chain and alleged it failed to guard against diversion of prescription opioids. The parent later agreed in March 2024 to a global settlement capped at $1,372,800,000, payable in 11 annual installments, and the chain was listed as a “Released Entity,” receiving a full release and being dropped from that Durham County case.
Although the parent assigned the grocery chain an internal accounting share of $60,493,575.49, the court found that amount came from internal bookkeeping, not from the settlement terms or any contract enforceable against the chain. The chain admitted it had no legal obligation to pay, and the court granted the insurers’ motion, denied the chain’s claim, and taxed costs to the chain.