Supreme Court blocks Purdue Pharma’s $6 billion opioid settlement
WASHINGTON − The Supreme Courtroom on Thursday quickly blocked a settlement reached with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that required members of the Sackler household who as soon as managed the corporate to pay $6 billion however shielded them from future lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis.
The excessive court docket’s resolution, which was unsigned and famous no dissents, got here in response to a request from the Biden administration to place the settlement reached final 12 months between Purdue and state and native governments on maintain. The Supreme Courtroom additionally agreed to listen to arguments within the case later this 12 months.
A federal appeals court docket in New York approved the company’s bankruptcy plan earlier this 12 months. However a U.S. authorities trustee, a part of the Justice Division, final month requested the Supreme Courtroom to place that ruling on maintain. The federal government argues decrease courts shouldn’t have shielded the Sackers from legal responsibility.
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The administration instructed the Supreme Courtroom that the Sackler household withdrew about $11 billion from Purdue earlier than the corporate filed for chapter. The household agreed to contribute $6 billion, U.S. Solicitor Basic Elizabeth Prelogar instructed the court docket, however solely on the situation that it obtain “a launch from legal responsibility that’s of outstanding and unprecedented breadth.”
Michele Sharp, a Purdue spokesperson, mentioned the corporate is assured within the legality of “our practically universally supported Plan of Reorganization, and optimistic that the Supreme Courtroom will agree.” She mentioned the corporate is upset that the trustee, “regardless of having no concrete curiosity within the consequence of this course of, has been capable of single-handedly delay billions of {dollars} in worth that needs to be put to make use of for sufferer compensation, opioid disaster abatement for communities throughout the nation, and overdose rescue medicines.”
The Justice Division declined to touch upon the Supreme Courtroom’s order.