https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/health/sacklers-supreme-court.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/03/us/politics/oxycontin-supreme-court-purdue-sacklers.htmlhttps://www.wsj.com/finance/purdue-settlement-supreme-court-90954f52For years, Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, had been entangled in lawsuits seeking to hold it to account for its role in the spiraling opioid crisis.
A pathbreaking settlement reached last year appeared to signal the end to thousands of those cases, funneling billions of dollars toward fighting the epidemic in exchange for exempting members of the billionaire Sackler family, which once controlled the company, from civil lawsuits.
But on Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether the agreement is a violation of federal law in a case that could have ramifications not just for Purdue but also for organizations that turn to bankruptcy court, as the company did, to resolve claims of mass injury.
“There’s huge implications for all of corporate bankruptcy,” said Anthony J. Casey, a law professor at the University of Chicago. “I think this is probably the most important bankruptcy case before the court in 30, maybe 40 years.”
The question before the justices is whether a legal maneuver in the settlement agreement can give the Sackler family the kind of wide-ranging legal protection it has demanded for years: full immunity from civil lawsuits related to a devastating public health crisis.
The tactic, part of Purdue’s fiercely contested bankruptcy restructuring, has figured in any manner of settlements involving claims of mass injury, such as accusations of sex abuse leveled against the Boy Scouts of America and the Catholic Church.
