Kentucky physician James Chaney has been awarded $14 million in his lawsuit against CVS and Rite Aid of Kentucky for wrongly attributing drug orders to him, the Lexington Herald Leader reported March 22.
Mr. Chaney was charged in 2014 and was indicted for illegally prescribing drugs, running a pill mill out of his pain management clinic and conspiracy to commit money laundering. He consequently lost his medical license and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.
The jury in the lawsuit found that CVS and Rite Aid knowingly reported Mr. Chaney wrote prescriptions he had not.
He was awarded $10 million for past, present and future mental anguish; $2.5 million for lost wages; and $1.5 million for impairment to his ability to earn wages, according to the report.
CVS will pay 53 percent of the award and Rite Aid will pay 45 percent. A third company, R/X Discount Pharmacy, is liable for 1 percent of the award. The jury also said Mr. Chaney was responsible for 1 percent of the damage he suffered by failing to monitor prescribing data about himself.
A spokesperson for CVS told the publication the company disagrees with the verdict and may appeal. Rite Aid did not respond to the publication's request for comment.
Mr. Chaney is planning to ask the state to reinstate his medical license.