Supreme Court Overturns Opioid Settlement That Shielded Sacklers From Lawsuits

Grace Bisch hold a picture of stepson Eddie Bisch, who died of an overdose, as she protests on Dec. 4, 2023, outside the U.S. Supreme Court. The court heard oral arguments that day regarding a nationwide settlement with Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin. The settlement aims to protect the Sackler family, which owns the company, from civil lawsuits.The U.S.

In 2019, facing a tidal wave of lawsuits over its role in driving the opioid crisis, Purdue Pharma ― but not its owners, the Sackler family ― filed for bankruptcy protection, placing all litigation on hold. Over the next several years, a deal emerged in a New York bankruptcy court to dissolve Purdue Pharma and remake it into a nonprofit whose proceeds would pay for states and communities across the country to address the opioid epidemic.

in late 2021. With the bankruptcy agreement on hold, Purdue has been supervised by an independent monitor.case reached the Supreme Court in December, when the justices seemed deeply divided between compensating victims as quickly as possible and holding the Sacklers responsible.

Along with Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, Kagan grilled government lawyer Curtis Gannon about the material consequences of a court decision that would allow litigation against the Sacklers at the risk of delaying or jeopardizing payments to victims of the epidemic.that sets aside some money for individuals, such as the families of loved ones who died of overdoses and children born with neonatal abstinence syndrome.

“ was the best that was available here for the victims,” he told the justices in December, saying the $6 billion equaled 97% of what was left of the $11 billion after taxes. Allowing individual litigation against the Sacklers, he added, could ultimately drain the pool of money available for the rest of the victims.

Jackson framed the liability shield as an extraordinary concession the Sacklers extracted by holding Purdue profits hostage.

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A Leonard Leo-Linked Group Is Secretly Funding Legislative Attacks On Trans RightsMolly Redden is a senior politics reporter for HuffPost. Before joining HuffPost, she covered gender issues as a senior reporter for the Guardian US and was a staff writer for Mother Jones and the New Republic. She is based in New York. She can be reached at molly.reddenhuffpost.com.
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