Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced today a $150 million multistate settlement in principle with opioid manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals (Hikma) for its role in fueling the opioid crisis. Hikma produces a range of generic opioid products and sells hundreds of millions of opioid doses every year. The attorneys general allege that from 2006 to 2021, Hikma failed to monitor and report suspicious opioid orders from potentially illegal distributors, even while its personnel knew their systems to monitor suspicious orders were inadequate and prone to failure. The settlement will provide $115 million in cash and $35 million in opioid addiction treatment medication to resolve claims brought by states and local communities against Hikma. States that do not accept the medication will receive cash in lieu of product.

“Hikma contributed to an ongoing crisis that has claimed thousands of Delawareans’ lives,” said Attorney General Jennings. “Now they’re being held accountable. The funds from this settlement will go towards our efforts to support recovery and abatement efforts in Delaware and to reverse some of the damage that Big Pharma has done to our communities.”

As part of the settlement in principle, Hikma will pay $150 million to participating states and localities, encompassing $115 million in cash and $35 million worth of opioid addiction treatment medication. 

The settlement in principle was negotiated by the attorneys general of New York, California, Delaware, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia in coordination with an executive committee consisting of the attorneys general of Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon.  

Attorney General Jennings announced today a settlement with Tempoe, LLC resolving a multistate investigation into Tempoe’s advertising and leasing to consumers through retailers across the nation. The multistate investigation—which included 41 states and the District of Columbia—revealed that Tempoe’s marketing and sales practices often misled consumers to believe they were signing up for an installment plan or credit sale when, in reality, they were entering into a lease agreement. The complicated structure, as well as the lack of required disclosures, of the lease agreements caused more confusion, often resulting in consumers paying 2-3 times the purchase price of the product or service.

Through this settlement, Tempoe is permanently banned from engaging in future consumer leasing activities. All existing leases will be canceled, and consumers may retain the leased merchandise in their possession without any further financial obligation to Tempoe – resulting in approximately $33 million of “in-kind” financial relief to consumers nationwide. Additionally, Tempoe shall not provide negative information regarding lessees to any consumer reporting agency.

Consumers with existing leases do not need to take any action as Tempoe has automatically canceled their account(s) as a result of this settlement.

Finally, as part of this settlement, Tempoe will pay $2 million: $1 million to the states and jurisdictions participating in this settlement and $1 million to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has agreed to a parallel settlement resolving the same alleged misconduct.

“Today’s settlement underscores our commitment to protecting Delaware’s citizens, particularly the most vulnerable, from predatory lenders,” stated Attorney General Jennings. “This office will continue to hold these businesses accountable.”

Forty-one (41) states and the District of Columbia are participating in the settlement. The multistate Executive Committee was comprised of Nebraska, Iowa, Tennessee, Illinois, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and Texas, which led the multistate group consisting of Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and the District of Columbia.

This matter was handled for the Delaware Department of Justice by the Fraud and Consumer Protection Division’s Consumer Protection Unit.

Attorney General Kathy Jennings today announced that Delaware has reached a settlement with Walmart to resolve allegations that the company contributed to the opioid addiction crisis by failing to appropriately oversee the dispensing of opioids at its stores. The settlement will provide $3.1 billion nationally and will require significant improvements in how Walmart’s pharmacies handle opioids.

State attorneys general on the executive committee, attorneys representing local governments, and Walmart have agreed to this settlement, and it is now being sent to other states for review and approval. 

“Delaware has made real progress in the fight against substance use disorder, but families from Claymont to Selbyville are still paying the costs of the opioid epidemic,” said Attorney General Jennings. “My office’s mission is to secure accountability for the families of this state: first from the manufacturers and distributors who brought opioids into our communities, and now from the retailers and pharmacies that sold them. This $3.1 billion agreement will change Walmart’s practices, and it will change lives across this country. I’m grateful to the team in our office and our fellow attorneys general who fought tirelessly to secure these resources and to make a change for our neighbors.”

The settlement will include:

• $3.1 billion to be divided by states that sign on, local governments, and tribes, which must be used to provide treatment and recovery services to people struggling with opioid use disorder.
• Broad, court-ordered requirements, including robust oversight to prevent fraudulent prescriptions and flag suspicious prescriptions.

Delaware’s portion of the settlement is estimated at $11.8 million. The parties are optimistic that the settlement will gain the support of the required 43 states by the end of 2022, allowing local governments to join the deal during the first quarter of 2023. Further details about how the money will be distributed will be forthcoming. Last month, states confirmed that promising negotiations were also underway with Walgreens and CVS. The parties continue their efforts to achieve those agreements. 

In addition to Delaware, the Attorneys General of North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and Texas have served as the lead negotiators on this deal. 

Attorney General Kathleen Jennings announced today that Delaware, along with 39 states, has obtained two multistate settlements with Experian Information Solutions, Inc. (“Experian”) and T-Mobile USA, Inc. (“T-Mobile”) concerning a 2015 data breach experienced by Experian that compromised the personal information of more than 15 million individuals who submitted credit applications with T-Mobile. Under the settlements, the companies have agreed to improve their data security practices and to pay the states a combined amount of more than $15 million. Delaware will receive a total of $140,161.54 from the settlements. The breach impacted 36,857 Delaware residents.

“Today’s settlement underscores our commitment to protecting the confidential data of Delaware’s citizens,” stated Attorney General Jennings. “Companies doing business in Delaware must take steps to protect their customers’ personal information.”

In September 2015, Experian, one of the big-three credit reporting bureaus, reported it had experienced a data breach in which an unauthorized actor gained access to part of Experian’s network storing personal information on behalf of its client, T-Mobile. The breach involved information associated with consumers who had applied for T-Mobile postpaid services and device financing between September 2013 and September 2015, including names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, identification numbers (such as driver’s license and passport numbers), and related information used in T-Mobile’s own credit assessments. Neither Experian’s consumer credit database, nor T-Mobile’s own systems, were compromised in the breach.

The multistate coalition obtained separate settlements from Experian and T-Mobile in connection with the 2015 data breach. Under a $12.67 million settlement, Experian has agreed to strengthen its due diligence and data security practices going forward. Those include:

• Prohibition against misrepresentations to its clients regarding the extent to which Experian protects the privacy and security of personal information;
• Implementation of a comprehensive Information Security Program, incorporating zero-trust principles, regular executive-level reporting, and enhanced employee training;
• Due diligence provisions requiring the company to properly vet acquisitions and evaluate data security concerns prior to integration;
• Data minimization and disposal requirements, including specific efforts aimed at reducing use of Social Security numbers as identifiers; and
• Specific security requirements, including with respect to encryption, segmentation, patch management, intrusion detection, firewalls, access controls, logging and monitoring, penetration testing, and risk assessments.

The settlement also requires Experian to offer 5 years of free credit monitoring services to affected consumers, as well as two free copies of their credit reports annually during that

timeframe. This is in addition to the four years of credit monitoring services already offered to affected consumers— two of which were offered by Experian in the wake of the breach, and two that were secured through a separate 2019 class action settlement. The deadlines to enroll in these prior offerings have since passed.

If you were a class member in the 2019 class action settlement, you are eligible to enroll in these extended credit monitoring services. Affected consumers can enroll in the 5-year extended credit monitoring services and find more information on eligibility here. The enrollment window will remain open for 6 months.

In a separate $2.43 million settlement, T-Mobile has agreed to detailed vendor management provisions designed to strengthen its vendor oversight going forward. Those include:

• Implementation of a Vendor Risk Management Program;
• Maintenance of a T-Mobile vendor contract inventory, including vendor criticality ratings based on the nature and type of information that the vendor receives or maintains;
• Imposition of contractual data security requirements on T-Mobile’s vendors and sub-vendors, including related to segmentation, passwords, encryption keys, and patching;
• Establishment of vendor assessment and monitoring mechanisms; and
• Appropriate action in response to vendor non-compliance, up to contract termination.

Find more information on eligibility here: http://www.tmobileapplicant2015eisdatabreachsettlement.com/. 

The settlement with T-Mobile does not concern the unrelated, massive data breach announced by T-Mobile in August 2021, which is still under investigation by a multistate coalition of Attorneys General co-led by Connecticut.

The Consumer Protection Unit of the Delaware Department of Justice handled the matter for Delaware.