Walmart Leaders Lose Bid to End Lawsuit on Opioid Red Flags (1)

Walmart Inc.'s senior leaders must face investor litigation over the retail giant’s alleged role in fueling the nationwide opioid epidemic, a Delaware judge ruled Wednesday.

Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster let the case move forward, although he threw out several of its legal theories. The allegations make it plausible Walmart board members knew the company was violating drug trafficking laws “and allowed it to happen, meaning they consciously condoned illegality,” Laster said in a 123-page opinion.

The lawsuit “also points to a motive,” the judge wrote. “Walmart was driving opioid prescription traffic to its pharmacies both to generate pharmacy ...