Opioid Crisis Insurance Coverage Issue Goes to State High Courts

A federal appeals court asked two state supreme courts to weigh in on whether Publix Super Markets Inc. and Bloodworth Wholesale Drugs Inc.'s past and future costs for opioid epidemic litigation are covered by policies with liability insurers, including units of Chubb Ltd. and Liberty Mutual Insurance Co.

The appeals in the two cases hinge on whether the retail pharmacy chains face liability “because of bodily injury,” the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit said in a Thursday opinion, sending Bloodworth’s case to Georgia’s high court and Publix’s to Florida’s.

“As a federal court, we have no place ...