Shareholders entitled to opioid distributor's board records

DOVER, Del. (AP) — A Delaware judge has ordered one of the world's largest distributors of opioid painkillers to turn over corporate records to shareholders investigating whether the company engaged in wrongdoing.

The judge ruled Monday that shareholders of AmerisourceBergen have demonstrated that they have proper purposes to conduct an inspection of company records and have established their right to inspect "formal board materials."

The plaintiffs also will be allowed to conduct a deposition to determine whether there are other materials that they should be entitled to see.

"The plaintiffs have shown by a preponderance of the evidence that there is a credible basis to infer that AmerisourceBergen possibly violated the Controlled Substances Act," Vice Chancellor J. Travis Laster wrote. "The evidence of possible wrongdoing is circumstantial, and it does not establish that wrongdoing occurred. What the evidence establishes is a credible basis to infer possible wrongdoing warranting further investigation."

The ruling comes after the company last year rejected a "books and records" demand from the plaintiffs seeking to investigate whether directors and officers had committed mismanagement or breached their fiduciary duties in connection with the distribution of opioids.

AmerisourceBergen, headquartered in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, contended that the demand did not state a credible basis to suspect wrongdoing and that the scope of the inspection was overly broad.

In his ruling, the judge noted that AmerisourceBergen's role in America’s opioid epidemic has made it the target of several subpoenas, government investigations, and lawsuits. Since September 2017, the company has spent more than $1 billion on litigation and opioid-related costs, including settlements and legal fees relating to lawsuits and...