Walgreens Boots Alliance , has agreed to pay a$ 595 million settlement to a virtual care company over a dispute involving COVID-19 testing — dodging , a$ 987 million arbitration award , that a federal judge recently said Walgreens had to pay.
A federal judge upheld a$ 987 million arbitration award that Walgreens and the virtual care provider PWNHealth, who is now trading as Everly Health, had been fighting over in court. A spokesperson for Walgreens stated in a statement that Walgreens may challenge the judge’s decision to defend the award at the time. But the settlement agreement, which was announced later Tuesday, had put an end to the problem.
Walgreens “entered into the Settlement Agreement to prevent the expense and confusion of continuing litigation,” Walgreens said in a registration with the , Securities and Exchange Commission  , Tuesday. Walgreens pointed out that the settlement agreement does not specifically state that Walgreens is held accountable for any wrong or misconduct.
Everly did not respond to a post demand on Tuesday afternoon.
Walgreens had contracted with PWNHealth earlier in the COVID-19 crisis when ordering a COVID-19 check required a surgeon’s presence. According to a court case, Walgreens used PWNHealth’s system of doctors to place testing for customers who had meetings made through the company’s website. However, PWNHealth filed an arbitration in 2022, alleging that Walgreens and PWNHealth broke the contract when Walgreens began using its own pharmacists to buy tests using the site created by Walgreens and PWNHealth without being informed. PWNHealth said in court papers that for part of that time, Walgreens kept PWNHealth’s tag on its webpage.
The arbiter sided with PWNHealth, and Walgreens challenged that decision in federal court in , Delaware, arguing in part that problems should have been limited to$ 79 million per a contractual arrangement. The judge, but, sided with the arbitrator’s unique choice.
Had Walgreens appealed the jury’s decision, the appeals approach would have probably taken at least two times, Walgreens originally said.
The settlement contract comes amid a number of other economic challenges for the retail store huge related to treatment reimbursements, changing customer habits and a relationship with key maintenance provider , VillageMD , that wasn’t effective. Walgreens CEO , Tim Wentworth , has said he plans to turn around the firm largely by refocusing on its historical work as a financial pharmacy-led company.
For the first time in 92 times, Walgreens announced earlier this year that it would suspend monthly dividends for shareholders. Last month, Walgreens announced , plans to close 1, 200 stores , over the next three centuries,  , including in , Chicago. Walgreens has been cutting expenses for decades, including through , cuts in , Illinois , and other areas.
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