Supreme Court Rejects Purdue Pharma Opioid Settlement in Major Blow to Sackler Family

The Supreme Court rejected a settlement with OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma that would have shielded the Sackler family from legal liability for the company’s role in exacerbating the disastrous opioid crisis.

The Supreme Court released the 5-4 decision Thursday morning, ruling that a bankruptcy judge did not have the authority to release the Sackler family from litigation filed by opioid victims. As part of the proposed deal, the family had agreed to give up ownership of the company and pay as much as $6 billion to settle opioid-related claims in exchange for legal protection from future cases.

Sackler family members previously owned and operated Purdue, which sold OxyContin and other prescription opioids at the height of the opioid epidemic. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 after facing scores of lawsuits that sought damages arising from OxyContin. The narcotic is used to treat moderate to severe pain.

The Court’s ruling means that settlement talks would have to restart, and it’s likely no deal would be reached this time.

“The Sacklers seek greater relief than a bankruptcy discharge normally affords, for they hope to extinguish even claims for wrongful death and fraud, and they seek to do so without putting anything close to all their assets on the table,” conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in the majority opinion. “Nor is what the Sacklers seek a traditional release, for they hope to have a court extinguish claims of opioid victims without their consent.”